ProfessorNicola Kayes

Nicola’s specialist research area draws insights from the intersection between health psychology and rehabilitation, applying what we know about how people think, feel and behave in the context of injury and illness to optimise the impact of rehabilitation. This includes an interest in the role of the rehabilitation practitioner and their way of working as a critical factor in rehabilitation and whether shifting structures, processes and practice can optimise outcome. More broadly, it includes an interest in health service delivery and the organisational structures, cultures, policies and practices that can make possible or constrain ways of working and, therefore, impact on our ability to deliver outcomes that matter to people. Her recent research has focused on better understanding aspects of person-centred practice and building person-centred cultures of care, therapeutic relationship, peer support, self-management, behaviour change, engagement and exploring what helps or hinders uptake of new ways of working in practice. This has led to some exciting collaborative opportunities with design colleagues and an interest in the potential for creative and participatory practices in supporting knowledge mobilisation in practice.

Examples of Research Projects:
› Connection and Collaboration in Rehabilitation: Developing a measure of therapeutic relationship in rehabilitation
› Exploring what matters most to Māori in the therapeutic relationship
› Evaluating a sustainable model of peer mentoring in traumatic brain injury
› Supporting knowledge and practice advance in person-centred rehabilitation
› Embedding new ways of working in rehabilitation: Examining knowledge mobilisation in action
› Embedding principles of self-management into routine service delivery
› Exploring how we build psychosocial and cultural resources for recovery in rehabilitation