Alyson's research focuses on the unmet health needs of people with chronic conditions and cancer in respect to self-care and self-management, seeking to understand how to succesfully address patients' needs, and health services provision outcomes.

Self-care is defined as care directed by the individual. Self-management of a condition involves the support of healthcare professionals. In real life, these approaches are often a combination of both, and can collectively be called supportive care.

Heart Failure Research 

Research prioritisation and qualitative research conducted by Alyson has shown that people with heart failure value the role they can play in their health care [doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2020-001258].

Alyson's initial research looked at case management for people with heart failure and showed that both patients and health professionals appreciate this approach [doi:10.1111/jan.13559]. This research also showed that hospital-initiated case management can reduce hospital admissions, and these data have been cited by American and Brazilian clinical guidelines [doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010933].

The HAND study (in progress) is looking at the NHS@home provision for people with heart failure from the healthcare professional perspective.

Other research led by Alyson looked at self-management interventions for heart failure-related fatigue [https://openresearch.nihr.ac.uk/articles/2-63]. The evidence is limitied but suggests that education, a person-centred approach and specific interventions such as CBT, mindfulness and some supplements are promising for fatigue management and warrant further research.

Heart failure And Partcipation in Physical activitY (the HAPPY study)  [https://www.bristol.ac.uk/primaryhealthcare/researchthemes/happy-study/]. This programme of work led by Alyson is based on the unmet need of physical activity support for people with heart failure in the community using a mixed method approach to intervention design. Currently this work is looking at the experiences of GPs and community nurses in their support of physical activity by people with heart failure, and current England-wide provision (the HAPPY plus study). Future work will involve intervention implementation and feasibility.

Cancer Research 

Alyson's research into supportive care for prostate cancer showed a lack of evidence of efficacy for supportive care interventions impacting on quality of life, and critiqued the inclusivity and design of such studies [doi:10.1002/cam4.446].It was also clear from the qualitative data that there was unmet needs in the terms of long-term cancer survivorship and supportive care for men with prostate cancer [doi:10.1111/ecc.12286].

Alyson leads a programme of work with European collaborators on herbal mistletoe preparations as an adjunct therapy for cancer patients. Her qualitative research shows that patients feel the benefit from using mistletoe therapy during cancer treatment and beyond [doi:10.1089/acm.2015.0194].  Mistletoe therapy is safe although the proof of its efficacy and mechanism still requires more research [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eujim.2021.101392]. 

Mistletoe And Breast cancer - (the MAB study) was a pilot feasibility RCT and the first mistletoe study to be conducted in the UK , showing that mistletoe therapy provision is possible in the UK hospital setting [doi:10.1186/s40814-022-01036-w] Talking About Mistletoe (the TAM study) suggests that people in the UK want information and support around mistletoe therapy, and that they achieve this through peer support and forums.

Future work on this topic will focus on the mechanism of action of mistletoe prepartions, and information support for people regarding mistletoe therapy.

Methodological expertise 

Alyson provides leadership, collboration and advice on systematic review and evidence synthesis projects within the University of Bristol nationally  and internationally.

She has hands-on experience and supervisory experience of 

a) systematic review types including traditional, rapid, scoping, and umberella reviews 

b) evidence synthesis including meta-analysis, SWIMS, thematic synthesis, meta-aggregation and mixed method synthesis. 

Alyson has a special interest in mixed method research approaches. She  also has experience in research prioritisation approaches, surveys, qualitative interview studies and clinical trial management.

Alyson designs her research projects with relevant collaborator co-investigators and advisors. e.g. health charities, non-academic healthcare professionals and healthcare commisioners.

Patient and public involvement has been part of her research since 2011. Inclusivity is important in her approach to answering research questions.

Alyson currently supervises two PhD students and welcomes interest from potential students.

Key words:

Self-management, self-care, supportive care 

Unmet needs

Chronic conditions

Cancer