
Dr Sandi Dheensa
BSc, MSc, PhD
Current positions
Research Fellow
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
Media contact
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Research interests
I am an applied social scientist in the Domestic Violence/Abuse and Health Research Group (DVAHG). My primary research interest is healthcare and public health responses to gender-based violence.
I currently work on ADVANCE, an NIHR-funded RCT that is testing a group therapy to reduce intimate partner violence and abuse among men receiving substance use treatment. I concurrently work as a researcher and capacity-strengthening co-lead on HERA2, an NIHR global health project enhancing healthcare responses to domestic violence/abuse in low-middle income countries
In 2020 I led the Recording & Sharing Domestic violence/abuse Information in Healthcare (R&SDIH) project, a workstream on the Pathfinder initiative. This project led to best practice guidelines for health settings and I continue to work on their dissemination.
Since 2012, I have also worked as a consultant for local third-sector organisations evaluating services and developing strategy/policy on violence against women and women’s health.
I teach on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate units, supervise medical students, and co-supervise PhD student Satya Shrestha. I am also DVAHG coordinator, organising team meetings and guest speakers. I am moreover part of decoloniseUoB (@decolUoB) co-leading work around decolonising research.
If you are interested in collaboration or supervision, or would like to present at a future DVAHG meeting, please contact me on sandi.dheensa@bristol.ac.uk
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
Publications
Selected publications
15/08/2020Recording and sharing information about domestic violence/abuse in the health service
Recording and sharing information about domestic violence/abuse in the health service
Sharing reports about domestic violence and abuse with general practitioners
BMC Family Practice
"From taboo to routine"
BMC Health Services Research
Recent publications
10/03/2022Enhancing the cancer workforce response to domestic violence and abuse: the time is now
British Journal of Nursing
Healthcare Professionals’ Own Experiences of Domestic Violence and Abuse
Trauma, Violence, and Abuse
Researching Men’s Violence Against Women as Feminist Women Researchers: The Tensions We Face
Violence against Women
ADVANCE integrated group intervention to address both substance use and intimate partner abuse perpetration by men in substance use treatment
BMC Public Health
‘A life barely half lived’
Journal of Gender-Based Violence