Dr Claire Easthall

Dr Claire Easthall

Profile

I was awarded my first class MPharm at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in 2009 and registered as a community pharmacist a year later. In October 2010, I returned to UEA to undertake a PhD entitled 'The development and evaluation of pharmacy-led medication adherence services' under the supervision of Dr Debi Bhattacharya and Professors David Wright and Fujian Song. This PhD was completed in 2014 and sought to better understand patient medication adherence behaviours, with a particular focus on the application of health psychology theory to address non-adherence of an intentional nature. In February 2014 I joined the School of Healthcare, University of Leeds as a Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice where my research interests in patient health-related behaviours (in particular medication adherence) and the development of pharmacist-led behaviour change interventions continues.

Research interests

My research is primarily focused optimising medication taking behaviours and applying psychological theory to better understand this complex phenomenon. My research advocates moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to improving medication adherence and instead supports the concept of tailored interventions, adapted to meet individual need. My research also incorporates the implementation of adherence support interventions into routine practice such as community pharmacies. I am also supervising doctoral research around medicines management in advanced cancer and deprescribing in care homes.

Qualifications

  • PhD Pharmacy Practice
  • Master of Pharmacy (MPharm)

Professional memberships

  • Royal Pharmaceutical Society
  • UK Society for Behavioural Medicine
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Student education

My teaching roles cover pre-registration pharmacy training, pharmacy practice advanced diploma independent prescribers training for nurses and midwives and undergraduate nursing and midwifery (on topics such as helath behaviour change and pharmacology). At the post-graduate level I deliver research-led tecahing around helath behaviour change, medication adherence, patient partnerships, consultation skills, team working and reflective practice.

Research groups and institutes

  • Medicines optimisation
  • Long-term conditions
  • Health and social psychology
<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>