Dr Louise H. Hall

Profile

I am a Senior Research Fellow within the Academic Unit of Primary Care, working across a range of cancer prevention and risk reduction trials (details below). My broad research interests include improving outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer and long-term health conditions. My particular interests are in improving quality of life, physical activity, and psychological health, through complex intervention designs. My background is in health psychology and behavioural science and my areas of expertise involve intervention co-development, behaviour change techniques, trial management, and a range of qualitative and quantitative methods.

My other roles are in the NIHR Research Support Service Hub delivered by University of York and Partners, as the Leeds Manager and as an RSS General Advisor. This involves providing support to researchers and health professionals who are developing proposals for funding from NIHR, the Research Councils and medical research charities. 

Trials I am currently working on:

WE SURE CAN (PIs: Dr Rebecca Beeken and Dr Samuel Smith).
A weight loss trial to support breast cancer survival. This feasibility trial is testing a total diet replacement programme (with dietetic support). The future definitive trial will aim to establish whether the risk of breast cancer recurrence can be reduced with intentional weight loss. Role: Research Fellow & Trial Manager.

PROPEL (PIs: Professor Janet Dunn & Professor Simon Stanworth).
To establish the clinical impact and cost-effectiveness of best practice usual care (BPUC) compared to a multiphasic, multimodal personalised prehabilitation care package (PPCP) on fatigue, emotional wellbeing and quality of life in patients receiving remission consolidation treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia or high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes with excess blasts. Role: Research Fellow/Behavioural Component Advisor.

ROSETA (PI: Dr Samuel Smith).
Using the MOST framework this programme aims to refine and optimise a complex intervention package for women with breast cancer to support adjuvant endocrine therapy adherence. Role: Research Fellow and Co-Supervisor of the linked PhD studentship.

Completed Trials:

Yorkshire Cancer Research funded ACTION Trial (PIs: Dr Samuel Smith, Dr Christopher Graham).
This project aims to co-develop (with patients and clinicians) and feasibility test an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy based intervention for improving medication adherence and quality of life in women with early-stage invasive breast cancer who are prescribed adjuvant endocrine therapy. Role: Research Fellow.

I joined the University of the Leeds to complete a Masters in Psychological Approaches to Health in 2013. I then went on to undertake a PhD, exploring the associations between General Practitioners' levels of wellbeing, burnout, and patient safety. This was funded by the University of Leeds and the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR), (from an NIHR CLAHRC grant) and supervised by Dr Judith Johnson, Professor Daryl O'Connor, and Professor Ian Watt. During this time, I also worked for Get Out Get Active, a Sports England funded initiative aimed at increasing physical activity in University students, through participation in outdoor activities. My main role within this was the design, delivery, and evaluation of rock climbing activities.

Towards the end of my PhD, I worked as a Research Fellow at BIHR, contributing to projects across the themes, 'Staff wellbeing and engagement' and 'Digital innovations for patient safety'. Specific projects included conducting a literature review of wearable technologies to improve observations in mental health units, evaluating a staff resilience workshop, and analysing data on healthcare professionals' experiences of medical error. 

I am on the grant review panel for the Irish Cancer Society. I review for a variety of psychology and clinical journals within the fields of cancer prevention, behaviour change, intervention development, primary care, and clinician burnout.  

Responsibilities

• Health Psychology Research Fellow on PROPEL
• Trial Manager & Research Fellow on WE SURE CAN
• NIHR Research Support Service Leeds Manager and General Advisor

Research interests

• Behaviour Change
• Cancer Prevention
• Quality of Life and Wellbeing
• Burnout
• Physical Activity
• Applied Health Psychology

Qualifications

• PhD Psychology
• MSc Psychological Approaches to Health
• BSc Psychology

Student education

PhD supervisor, DClin supervisor. MBChB lecturing and undergratuate research project supervision and evaluation. 

Research groups and institutes

• Division of Primary Care, Palliative Care and Public Health
• Leeds Institute of Health Sciences