CLAHRC ARiAS MSc Studentship in Health Services Research
Posted on 15 August 2012
Applications are invited for a MSc studentship to start in October 2012.
The award is available for students undertaking a full-time 1 year programme leading to the degree of MSc in Health Services Research. The award will cover academic fees at the UK/EU rate and a maintenance grant in-line with Research Council UK stipends (£13,590 for 2012/13). A project support grant of £1000 over the course of the MSc can be used at the discretion of the supervisors to support research expenses.
Application Deadline: 31th August 2012
Supervisors:
Academic supervisor: Charlie Lloyd, Senior Lecturer, Department of Health Sciences, University of York.
Partner co-supervisor: Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Consultant in Public Health, NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds.
Title Exploration of the Alcohol Health Worker service in Bradford Royal Infirmary
Project: The Addiction Research in Acute Settings theme of the NIHR-funded CLAHRC for Leeds, York and Bradford aims to investigate methods of improving the physical and mental health of drug and alcohol users in acute hospital settings. As part of the first phase of the project, we have sought to understand the patterns of alcohol and drug related hospital admissions and patterns of care in Leeds and the interventions which may improve the health of these users in this setting. One remaining gap we have identified in our knowledge is the role and impact of Alcohol Health Workers (AHWs) working in hospitals.
AHWs perform a range of tasks within hospital settings including:
- implementation of screening strategies
- detoxification of dependent drinkers
- brief interventions in hazardous drinkers
- referral of patients for on-going support
- provision of links with liaison/specialist alcohol psychiatry
- an educational resource and support focus for other health care workers in the Trust
Despite the emphasis given to the role of AHWs in commissioning guidance from the Department of Health (Signs for Improvement, Department of Health, 2009), there is a paucity of published research on the AHW role. Among others, there is a need for descriptive work which describes and analyses the different roles of AHWs, which are known to vary widely across the country.
We therefore wish to recruit an MSc student to undertake a study of the work of the two AHWs working in the Bradford Royal Infirmary by funding a one year, full-time MSc studentship in Health Services Research at the University of York. The student will exploit a detailed data-set collected by the two nurses working at Bradford Royal Infirmary to explore the type of patients that the AHWs work with (and the associated implications for coverage and prioritisation) and the nature and extent of the interventions delivered. The successful candidate will have some knowledge and experience of quantitative research (particularly analysis of data-sets) and, preferably, some knowledge and experience of conducting interviews. The selected student will register for the MSc in Health Sciences at the University of York, where they will undertake further training primarily in qualitative and quantitative research skills. Methods are likely to a brief review of the literature, quantitative analysis of the AHWs’ data-set, interviews with the AHWs (and, should time permit, other key informants), and content analysis of documents relating to the AHW service.
Entry requirements: Applicants must hold a first award at undergraduate level equivalent to a UK 2:1 honours degree (and a score of at least 7.0 on the academic IELTS test if English is not the first language).
To apply: Please apply to Charlie Lloyd (charlie.lloyd@york.ac.uk), including an outline of how you might develop the research project, a letter confirming your suitability for the studentship, and CV. Be sure to state in your application that you are applying for the CLAHRC ARiAS studentship. Successful applicants for funding will be invited to make a formal application for MSc admission to the University of York.