Tag: research

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Down’s Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Dementia

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

It’s a dreadful double whammy – people with Down’s are much more at risk of developing Alzheimer’s due to the extra strand of chromosome that causes Down’s in the first place.  Better healthcare and support means many more people are living into older age (in the early 1900s, most didn’t survive beyond 12 years), enjoying more life opportunities than ever before – including acting, gigging, (check out Heavy Load – I knew several of them!) and hitting the clubs and festivals  supported by friends, family, and the likes of Gig Buddies and the Stay Up Late campaign. But the tragedy … Continue reading Down’s Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Dementia

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An exploration of the value of computer-based virtual environments in the management of visible disfigurement

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Summary We asked three participants to inhabit an avatar in Second Life, first without and then with an overlay mimicking a facial burn. We reviewed comments about the virtual world, the impact of the scar, and responses to facial disfigurement questionnaires. First published by Ether Books, October 2013.   Second Life We used Second Life (SL), a widely accessible online virtual environment (VE) (Au, 2008), the utility of which has been described elsewhere (Hall, Conboy-Hill, and Taylor 2011). The validity of VEs to model human behaviour is underpinned by extensive research by Bailenson and his team (see  Blascovich & Bailenson, … Continue reading An exploration of the value of computer-based virtual environments in the management of visible disfigurement

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Brain rhythms, speech, and hearing

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

As per the post on my other blog, I wonder if those same brain rhythms, supplemented by voice as in the anthology Let Me Tell You a Story, might enhance the reading experience for people whose reading is interrupted by stumbles over unfamiliar words. The article below is re-published with permission. In loud rooms our brains ‘hear’ in a different way – new findings Joachim Gross, University of Glasgow and Hyojin Park, University of Glasgow When we talk face-to-face, we exchange many more signals than just words. We communicate using our body posture, facial expressions and head and eye movements; but … Continue reading Brain rhythms, speech, and hearing

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Where’s the ‘vague but exciting’ tick box for today’s research?

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

“Vague but exciting…” is what Tim Berners-Lee’s boss scribbled on his proposal to build the worldwide web before giving him the go-ahead to start work. If today’s research proposal rules had been in place, I’d argue it might never have happened because, in health services at least, the process has become one of regimented, formulaic stultification. One that squeezes the life out of innovative thinking and pins it to endless rigid forms that will only admit x-number-of-characters-including-spaces. By the time a project has been approved and funding granted, the thing that so excited and wired you up to the mains … Continue reading Where’s the ‘vague but exciting’ tick box for today’s research?

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academic, avatar, Facial disfigurement, psychology, Sussex University, virtual worldLeave a comment

Facial Disfigurement: a study using the virtual world, Second Life

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

We found differences among the coping styles identified by participants’ responses on the BICSI and their behaviours in-world. … The discrepancies between the BICSI scores and behaviours in-world suggest future research directions evaluating the longstanding problem of divergent expressed and reported attitudes.   This is a first for Ether Books: ‘Facial Disfigurement in Second Life‘ is a research paper detailing a study in which participants responded to the application of a facial scar to their avatar. A free download for smartphones. http://catalog.etherbooks.com/Products/3014 Related articles Facial disfigurement (slideshare.net)   Continue reading Facial Disfigurement: a study using the virtual world, Second Life

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academic, Brighton University, capacity to consent, high impact journal, Imperial College, learning disabilities, virtual world1 Comment

Using Virtual Reality to Provide Health Care Information to People With Intellectual Disabilities

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

It can take a long time to translate the uphill trek of the funding application into the enervating research you set out to do And afterwards, there seems to be an even longer trail towards placing an academic report of that work in a suitable publication.  The Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) is about as appropriate a positioning as we could have hoped for, with its focus on best use of technology in the interests of health. As you might expect, JMIR does not confine its publication to dry text, and so there are images drawn from the study, and even a video tour of the virtual environment. We are … Continue reading Using Virtual Reality to Provide Health Care Information to People With Intellectual Disabilities

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Joint Congress of the European Association for Mental Health in Intellectual Disability & IASSID Challenging Behaviour & Mental Health SIRG

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This is a first-of-its-kind conference; a joint enterprise between the Division of Clinical Psychology (British Psychological Society) and two European specialist learning disability associations. It is hosted by the DCP’s Faculty of Learning disability, which comprises psychologists working with people with learning disabilities, primarily in the NHS but also through local authority and third sector provisions. Sussex Partnership is well represented. Peter Baker is presenting his work  on positive behaviour support: Positive Behaviour Support Clinical and Process Outcomes: The P-CPO project. Nicky Gregory (with Celia Heneage) a workshop: Group work with people who have learning disabilities; sharing ideas from clinical practice. And I am presenting our findings for … Continue reading Joint Congress of the European Association for Mental Health in Intellectual Disability & IASSID Challenging Behaviour & Mental Health SIRG

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What does it mean when a research journal is ‘high impact’?

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Ok, so I’m on leave and taking a break from writing a 2000 word creation-myth story, as you do. I was at two meetings recently where the impact of research was discussed. The first was to do with demonstrating the value of research to organisations; the second was with a group of service users with learning disabilities (Powerful Trainers). Not surprisingly, the prevailing interpretation of ‘impact’ in these two discussions differed significantly, and the problem of resolution has been bothering my thinking genie ever since. As a clinician whose main output has been what might be termed ‘armchair’ discussion items … Continue reading What does it mean when a research journal is ‘high impact’?

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academic, Brighton University, Imperial College, learning disabilities, NHS, Sussex Partnership, Wired for Health, Wired Sussex1 Comment

Wired for Health

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This post was due up last week, then the news about Samantha Backler came through. She deserved her time in the spotlight. On March 17th, an extraordinary event took place at the Lighthouse in Brighton’s North Laines. The R&D department at Sussex Partnership has been developing ideas for projects – research and clinical practice – that seeks digital solutions to health care problems. Second Life is already a research environment for some of us, and more projects are either underway or at the work-up stage. We are also keen to capitalise on social media for communication with staff and service … Continue reading Wired for Health

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