Cunningham, Kathryn

Kathryn is a Lecturer (Education and Research) in the School of Health Sciences and a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. She is a Full Member of two of the Society’s Divisions: Division of Health Psychology and Division of Academics, Researchers, and Teachers in Psychology. She has also been elected as an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society for her contribution to the field of psychology through the application of specialist knowledge.

Kathryn completed an M.A. (Hons.) in Psychology at the University of St. Andrews, an M.Sc. in Health Psychology at the University of Stirling, and a Ph.D. at the University of Dundee, Exploring Loneliness in the Context of Cancer: A Mixed Methods Study. She has held research positions in a variety of areas, including cancer care, palliative care, health behaviour change, primary care and NHS staff wellbeing, at the University of St. Andrews (Schools of Medicine and Psychology), the University of Dundee (Schools of Dentistry, Medicine and Nursing) and the University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre).

Kathryn has expertise in the design and leadership/conduct of several different types of applied health and wellbeing research and evaluation, including:

• evidence synthesis (mixed method, systematic, scoping and realist reviews and concept analysis);
• intervention and service development/quality improvement, implementation and evaluation (mixed method and realist evaluation and feasibility and full Randomised Controlled Trials);
• questionnaire development and validation;
• qualitative research.

In addition to her research and evaluation experience Kathryn is experienced in teaching, training and supervision.

Kathryn has worked half-time since the birth of her first child in 2015.

Kathryn’s primary research interest is loneliness in: i) people living with one or more health conditions (e.g. cancer, chronic pain, stroke, mental illness); ii) other health-related contexts (e.g. parenting in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, caring for someone with one or more health conditions, following perinatal loss).

Loneliness is increasingly recognised as a serious problem due to its reported: a) prevalence; b) associations with low wellbeing, poor mental and physical health and premature mortality; c) economic costs.  Health conditions and other health-related contexts are acknowledged as particular risk factors for loneliness.

Kathryn is specifically interested in the following in: i) people living with one or more health conditions; ii) other health-related contexts:

• exploring experiences, sources and consequences of loneliness;
• developing, implementing and evaluating conceptually-sound and contextually-sensitive methods to identify and assess loneliness;
• developing, implementing and evaluating targeted and tailored interventions to reduce loneliness.

Kathryn’s wider research interests include social prescribing and health/healthcare professional behaviour change.

Additionally, Kathryn is committed to conceptual and theoretical advancement and methodological innovation in research.

Kathryn is a member of the Living Well with Long-Term Conditions Research Group and the Mother, Infant and Child Health Research Group and is currently taking new self-funded PhD students.  Kathryn welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students about projects focussing on:

• loneliness in people living with long-term health conditions (e.g. cancer, chronic pain, stroke, mental illness);
• loneliness in other health-related contexts (e.g. parenting in and beyond the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, caring for people living with long-term health conditions, following perinatal loss). 

Please note that the examples provided are not exclusive and Kathryn welcomes enquires about projects focussing on loneliness in people living with any health conditions or in any other health-related contexts. 

Prospective PhD students can contact Kathryn directly by email on [email protected] to discuss research ideas but should first visit the relevant Research Group webpage to see current topics of interest to supervisors:

Living Well with Long-Term Conditions Living Well with Long-Term Conditions (LWLTC) | University of Dundee, UK

Mother, Infant and Child Health (MIRU) Mother and Infant Research Unit | University of Dundee, UK.

Kathryn also welcomes enquiries regarding potential collaboration or consultancy in her areas of research interest.

Kathryn currently teaches:

• Professional and Academic Skills 1
• Professional and Academic Skills 2
• Student Selected 1: Improving and Maintaining Health and Well-being
• Student Selected 2: Managing Health Challenges
• Student Selected 3: Prevention and Protection Against Disease and Ill-health
• Leadership for Mentally Healthy Workplaces

She also supervises MSc dissertation, DClinPsy (joint with University of Glasgow) and PhD students.