Dr Kara Gray-Burrows

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds as a Research Assistant in December 2014 before becoming a Lecturer in 2018.

I am a psychologist by background working in both research and teaching in the School of Dentistry, University of Leeds. I graduated from my BSc [Hons] in Psychology in 2010, MSc in Psychological Approaches to Health in 2011, and PhD in Psychology on the relationships between executive control, conscientiousness and health behaviour in 2015. My expertise is in behaviour change, and the development and evaluation of complex interventions, with further interests in implementation science and patient and public involvement in research. Currently, I am working on several research projects with health professionals, early-years workers, charities and commercial companies to develop and evaluate preventive interventions for parents and children to improve the oral health of young children.

Research interests

My research interests are in behaviour change, the development and evaluation of complex interventions, implementation science and patient and public involvement in research. I am currently working on several projects aiming to improve the oral health of young children. These include:

• HABIT - an oral health intervention delivered by health visitors
• SOAP - an interactive resource developed to train the early-years workforce about oral health
• HENRY - a targeted oral health intervention embedded within an existing parenting programme
• "Strong Teeth" - Commercial campaign and resources to assist dental teams to have more effective behaviour change conversations with parents of young children
• HEE/Starting Well - Training/learning resources for dental teams on behaviour change and how to have effective behaviour change conversations with patients.
• BRUSH – optmising the implementation of supervised toothbrushing programmes in nurseries and schools across England. Our implementation toolkit can be accessed via: www.supervisedtoothbrushing.com
• toothPASTE – creating a support package for familes with autistic children to support oral health

I have also undertaken projects with the Institute of Health Sciences, University of Leeds, looking at behaviour change techniques used in an intervention changing GP's behaviour and the role of patient and public involvement in implementation science.

Furthermore, I was a member on the expert panel of the INDEX Study led by the Unversity of Sheffield working to develop recommendations for intervention development, which will inform the latest MRC complex intervention guidance.

Qualifications

• PhD Psychology
• MSc Psychological Approaches to Health
• BSc [Hons] Psychology

Professional memberships

• The British Psychological Society
• Society for Social Medicine and Population Health
• International Association for Dental Research

Student education

I am the module co-lead for Social Sciences Related to Dentistry and provide teaching for the MSc in Dental Public Health.

I also provide guest lectures in the School of Psychology, University of Leeds, on intervention development and evaluation.