Dr Reena Devi

Profile

I joined the University of Leeds in 2018 as a Senior Research Fellow. I have an academic background in psychology, and my PhD research evaluated the effectiveness and feasibility of an online cardiac rehabilitation intervention in a primary care setting. 

I started care home research in 2016 when I worked as a research fellow at the University of Nottingham. I worked on the Proactive Healthcare of Older People in Care Homes (PEACH) study, and my role involved evaluating the use of quality improvement methodology to improve health care services delivered to older people living in care homes. 

Since moving to the University of Leeds I have continued to work on care home research. My current roles includes working as a Scientific Linking Pin researcher in the Nurturing Innovation in Care Home Excellence in Leeds (NICHE-Leeds) partnership, a partnership between care organisations and University of Leeds (with Leeds Beckett University). The NICHE-Leeds partnership aims to enhance quality of life, care, and work for those living and working in care homes. As a Scientific Linking Pin I work closely with care homes, and work on bringing evidence-based solutions to questions raised by care home staff, residents, and relatives. In my Scientific Linking Pin role I am currently working with two care provider organisations located in Yorkshire: Springfield Healthcare and Westward Care.

Research interests

I have secured over £1m research funding: £374k as PI and £847k as co-investigator. 

I am currently leading research on two nationally and internationally relevant topics:

1. Quality improvement in care homes: the focus is to understand the processes and approaches which work well to improve quality of care in the care home context. I have successfully secured research funding as PI for the following projects:  

• SUSTAining Implementation of New Approaches in Care Homes, The SUSTAIN-CH study. Funded by The Abbeyfield Research Foundation (£48k). 

• Investigating quality improvement in care homes: preparing for a future research career to lead improvement research in care homes for older people. Funded by NIHR School for Social Care (£49k). 

2. Workforce recruitment and retention: the focus is to address staff shortages through understanding how to attract, recruit and retain care home staff. I am currently leading a project focused on - REcruiting and RetAining nurses, and carers in Care Homes: what works, for which staff, under what circumstances, and at what cost? The REACH Realist Review. This project is funded by NIHR (£277k). 

I work with academic collaborators based at the University of Leeds, University of Nottingham, Northumbria University, University of Leicester, University of Cambridge, University of Alberta, University of Toronto, and Maastricht University. Research projects also include social care sector collaborators; care home representatives from the NICHE-Leeds partnership and the National Care Forum.

I am also part of teams working on the following topics: 

•  Caring Optimally: promoting effective Mouth MInuTes (COMMIT Study) Co-PI Professor Karen Spilsbury and Professor Gail Douglas (University of Leeds)

• Seeking Answers for Care Home clinical Uncertainties: Gathering, Organising and Prioritising Care Home Staff’s, Residents’ and Relatives’ Uncertainties. PI Professor Karen Spilsbury (University of Leeds)

Recently completed funded research projects: 

• Learning by Experience and Supporting the Care Home Sector during the COVID-19 pandemic: key lessons learnt so far by health and care professionals working on the frontline PI Professor Karen Spilsbury (University of Leeds) 
• General Practitioners (GPs) role in advancing practice in care homes: engaging GPs in service development and quality improvement in care homes: a realist synthesis. PI Adam Gordon (University of Nottingham) 
• A scoping literature review examining effective strategies for improving the quality of care delivered in long term care settings. PI Adam Gordon (University of Nottingham) 

Qualifications

• BSc in Human Psychology
• MSc in Health Psychology
• PhD in applied health research (evaluated a web-based cardiac rehabilitation intervention)