
Dr Sandi Dheensa
BSc, MSc, PhD
Current positions
Research Fellow
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I design and evaluate healthcare and public health-based interventions for underserved groups (e.g., people affected by domestic abuse) and conduct evidence syntheses and primary research to inform these interventions.
I have (co)-led interdisciplinary health-related research for 15+ years, with methodological expertise in qualitative methods, document analysis, and survey development.
Recent and current projects include:
- Marie Curie-funded CEDA, exploring caregivers' experiences of domestic abuse from end-of-life care recipients (co-led with Dr Michelle Myall, University of Southampton).
- NIHR-funded PHRIDA (and previously PRESSURE) about healthcare professionals' own experiences of domestic abuse.
- A sister project exploring domestic abuse, sexual violence and abuse, and childhood maltreatment among medical students.
- Macmillan Cancer Support-funded CancerDA, which enhanced the cancer workforce response to domestic abuse and led to a Cancer & Domestic Abuse toolkit.
- Recording & Sharing Domestic abuse Information in Healthcare (RASDIH), which led to national good practice recommendations
- and, led by Dr Natalia Lewis, TAP Care, exploring trauma-informed care in community mental health services.
Previously, I worked on:
- NIHR-funded ADVANCE - an evaluation of an intimate partner violence and substance use disorder integrated programme for men.
- NIHR-funded REPROVIDE - an RCT testing the effectiveness of domestic abuse perpetrator programmes.
- NIHR-funded HERA - on improving healthcare responses to domestic abuse in Brazil, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
- and a range of projects about psychosocial and ethical aspects of genetic/genomic medicine.
As an academic consultant, I have conducted local service evaluations on:
- a peer support service for young women survivors of sexual violence
- an advocacy service for sexual violence survivors with learning disabilities
- a befriending service for sexual violence survivors with mental health needs
- a healthy relationships service for people aged 16-25 with unstable housing.
Alongside this work, I served as an editor for the journals BMC Women's Health and PLOS One. I also co-led a mapping of decolonising or decolonising-adjacent work in the University.
My broader interests are in social justice and health inequalities. I am keen to build international research partnerships to foster knowledge-exchange. Please get in touch to discuss collaboration or evaluation.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
R&SDIH: Recording & Sharing Domestic violence/abuse Information in Healthcare
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/01/2020 to 31/07/2020
Advancing theory and treatment approaches for males in substance misuse treatment who perpetrate intimate partner violence (Programme ADVANCE)
Principal Investigator
Role
Researcher
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
18/06/2018 to 31/12/2021
HERA - Healthcare Responding to Violence and Abuse
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
HERA (Healthcare Responding to Violence and Abuse) aims to:
Understand how healthcare systems in LMIC can integrate and evaluate interventions for VAW that link with community organisations, and ultimately ensure better…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (THS)Dates
01/04/2017 to 01/11/2021
Thesis supervisions
Health System Response to Domestic Violence
Supervisors
Publications
Selected publications
16/06/2022Sharing information about domestic violence and abuse in healthcare
BMJ Open
Healthcare Professionals’ Own Experiences of Domestic Violence and Abuse
Trauma, Violence, and Abuse
Recording and sharing information about domestic violence/abuse in the health service
Recording and sharing information about domestic violence/abuse in the health service
Recent publications
01/02/2025Identifying and responding to domestic abuse in cancer care
European Journal of Oncology Nursing
Adapting the ADVANCE group program for digitally-supported delivery to reduce intimate partner violence by men in substance use treatment
Frontiers in Psychiatry
A ‘forced holiday’ or ‘no escape route’? Contrasting experiences of survivors and perpetrators of domestic abuse during COVID-19
Journal of Gender-Based Violence
Healthcare professionals as domestic abuse survivors
Occupational Medicine
Research capacity strengthening methods and meanings: negotiating power in a global health programme on violence against women
BMJ Global Health