Blerina Kellezi

Nottingham Trent University | NTU · Division of Psychology

Objectives Major trauma centres (MTCs) save lives but rehabilitation to support return-to-work (RTW) is lacking. This paper describes development of a vocational rehabilitation intervention (the ROWTATE intervention) to support RTW following traumatic injury. Design Sequential and iterative person-based approach in four stages— Stage 1: review of...

Background Traumatic injury is a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Many patients experience a delayed return-to-work or are unable to return-to-work. Those that do return often have lower productivity. Vocational rehabilitation (VR) supports people to return to or remain in work. It has been shown to be effective in some conditions, bu...

Executive Summary This is the final report of the evaluation of Hope Projects (West Midlands) Ltd. legal advice service, conducted by staff from Nottingham Trent University. It draws on a review of the academic literature, survey responses from 92 clients, 90 in-depth qualitative interviews and a focus group with 58 clients, a documentary case rev...

Background Moderately severe or major trauma (injury severity score (ISS) > 8) is common, often resulting in physical and psychological problems and leading to difficulties in returning to work. Vocational rehabilitation (VR) can improve return to work/education in some injuries (e.g. traumatic brain and spinal cord injury), but evidence is lacking...

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the threats to health posed by loneliness. One of the main strategies that has been recommended to address this is social prescribing (SP). This typically involves general practitioners (GPs) and other health practitioners directing clients who are experiencing loneliness and related conditions...

Rape is widely used as a weapon of war. Despite its prevalence and impact, war rape is rarely reported, partly because it is perceived as norm violating in the patriarchal societies within which it often purposely occurs (e.g., by violating the norm that women should remain chaste), leading to survivors being excluded from their families and commun...

Mass human rights violations, such as those which occurred during the Albanian Dictatorship (1945–1991), can impact citizens across generations. Decades later, the lives of families and community members are often defined by efforts to achieve justice and prevent similar future experiences. Existing research shows that social identities predict how...

The transition to veterancy can be psychologically challenging, and although the military provides support, the importance of social connectedness for well-being is largely unrecognised. The significance of this oversight is highlighted by the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC), which conceptual-ises life change as social identity cha...

Objective: Vaccines are an effective means to reduce the spread of diseases, but they are sometimes met with hesitancy that needs to be understood. Method: In this study, we analyzed data from a large, cross-country survey conducted between June and August 2021 in 43 countries (N = 15,740) to investigate the roles of trust in government and science...

Research Objectives To assesses the feasibility of delivering a telehealth vocational rehabilitation (VR) intervention to enhance return to work and improve quality of life and wellbeing in people post-trauma. Design Non-randomised single-arm mixed-methods feasibility study. Setting Participants were recruited from two UK major trauma centres (MT...

During the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVIDiSTRESS Consortium launched an open-access global survey to understand and improve individuals' experiences related to the crisis. a year later, we extended this line of research by launching a new survey to address the dynamic landscape of the pandemic. this survey was released with the goal of a...

Despite cyberbullying being regarded as a new form of bullying, it is also contextualised within the broader bullying literature. This chapter will provide a review of the literature concerning cyberbullying, to offer an insight on its conceptualisation. The chapter will discuss the development of digital technologies and opportunities to communica...

Social identity approach (SIA) research shows that community members often work together to support survivors of collective victimization and rectify social injustices. However, complexities arise when community members have been involved in perpetrating these injustices. While many communities are unaware of their role in fostering victimization,...

Objectives This study aimed to: (1) understand the context for delivering a trauma vocational rehabilitation (VR) intervention; (2) identify potential barriers and enablers to the implementation of a VR intervention post-trauma. Design Qualitative study. Data were collected in person or via phone using different methods: 38 semistructured intervie...

Cyberbullying often occurs in group-based situations; therefore, how young people respond when they witness cyberbullying is important in the process of combating the issue. This study examined how young people perceive the severity of cyberbullying incidents and how they respond as a bystander according to different factors associated with cyberbu...

Mutual aid groups have allowed community members to respond collectively to the COVID‐19 pandemic, providing essential support to the vulnerable. While research has begun to explore the benefits of participating in these groups, there is a lack of work investigating who is likely to engage in this form of aid‐giving, although early accounts suggest...

The economic crisis precipitated by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has placed considerable financial pressures on households across the world. These are compounded by the enforced isolation accompanying pandemic restrictions, during which individuals can struggle to access external assistance and often need to rely heavily on the socia...

Objective: Injuries can have a long-lasting effect on ability to return-to-work, but there is little research on which outcomes are most important to patients. This study aims to identify and prioritise return-to-work outcomes important to patients for evaluating vocational rehabilitation interventions. Methods: Nominal group technique focus grou...

Stronger family relationships predict positive health outcomes: a relationship that is partially due to the range of emotional, practical and informational support that families can provide. Yet not all families possess these resources. A survey study in a disadvantaged community in Nottingham, UK ( N = 142) demonstrated that family identification...

Experiences of international migrants in host countries are very diverse. However, many migrants face cumulative challenges to their health and wellbeing which can be best supported by health initiatives aiming to a) address needs derived from socio-political context where they live and b) increase meaningful connection with community. This paper d...

Background: Returning to work after traumatic injury can be problematic. We developed a vocational telerehabilitation (VR) intervention for trauma survivors, delivered by trained occupational therapists (OTs) and clinical psychologists (CPs), and explored factors affecting delivery and acceptability in a feasibility study. Methods: Surveys pre-...

Introduction Mental health conditions are a major contributor to productivity loss and are common after injury. This study quantifies postinjury productivity loss and its association with preinjury and postinjury mental health, injury, demographic, health, social and other factors. Methods Multicentre, longitudinal study recruiting hospitalised em...

User-groups have argued the diagnosis, ‘Personality Disorder’, is harmful, however, these voices are largely missing from mainstream academia. The Social Identity Approach to Health (SIAH) has demonstrated group-based processes can help or harm wellbeing. Given psychiatric diagnoses are, by definition, group-based, SIAH provides a useful theoretica...

The volunteering literature is replete with studies revealing the health benefits of volunteering. This has led psychologists to question whether social processes may help deliver these benefits while also supporting sustained volunteering engagement. The Social Identity Approach (SIA) recognizes that volunteering takes place in groups and sheds li...

The volunteering literature is replete with studies revealing the health benefits of volunteering. This has led psychologists to question whether social processes may help deliver these benefits while also supporting sustained volunteering engagement. The Social Identity Approach (SIA) recognises that volunteering takes place in groups, and sheds l...

Levels of loneliness across the world have reached epidemic proportions, and their impact upon population health is increasingly apparent. In response, policies and initiatives have attempted to reduce loneliness by targeting social isolation among residents of local communities. Yet, little is known about the social psychological processes underpi...

Communities are vital sources of support during crisis, providing collective contexts for shared identity and solidarity that predict supportive, prosocial responses. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a global health crisis capable of exerting a heavy toll on the mental health of community members while inducing unwelcome levels of social disconn...

Mutual aid groups have allowed community members to respond collectively to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing essential support to the vulnerable. While research has begun to explore the benefits of participating in these groups, there is a lack of work investigating who is likely to engage in this form of aid-giving, and what social psychological p...

The stressors of immigration detention and negative host country experiences make effective access to health care vital for migrant detainees, but little is known regarding the health experiences of this populations and the barriers to healthcare access. The present research investigates immigration detainees’ experiences of health‐related help‐see...

Returning to work after traumatic injury can have a range of benefits, but there is currently little research that incorporates patient perspectives to identify outcomes of vocational rehabilitation interventions that are important to survivors. Trauma survivors (n = 17) participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews or focus groups exploring...

Although Social Cure research shows the importance of family identification in one’s ability to cope with stress, there remains little understanding of family responses to human rights violations. This is the first study to explore the role of family identity in the collective experience of such violations: meanings ascribed to suffering, family co...

Background Traumatic injuries are common amongst working-age adults. Survivors often experience physical and psychological problems, reduced quality of life and difficulty returning to work. Vocational rehabilitation improves work outcomes for a range of conditions but evidence of effectiveness for those with traumatic injuries is lacking. This stu...

Objective: To identify where and how trauma survivors’ rehabilitation needs are met after trauma, to map rehabilitation across five UK major trauma networks, and to compare with recommended pathways. Design: Qualitative study (interviews, focus groups, workshops) using soft-systems methodology to map usual care across trauma networks and explore s...

This submission is built on Social Prescribing (SP) and Migration research conducted through a co-production design (two roundtables). The aim of the co-production roundtables was to identify barriers and facilitators of health service access and satisfaction among migrants, and recommendations for using SP with migrant populations. The submissio...

Cohesive, resilient communities are vital to the well-being of residents. Uncovering the determinants of successful community identities is therefore essential to progressing the community health agenda. Engaging in community participation through volunteering may be one pathway to building local community identity and enhancing residents' health a...

We examined whether the Social Cure (SC) perspective explains the efficacy of a Social Prescribing (SP) pathway which addresses healthcare needs through enhancing social connections. Data were collected at pathway entry from patients with long-term health conditions, or who felt isolated/lonely/socially anxious (N=630), and then again four months l...

Research in the socialcure tradition shows that groups can reduce members' stress by providing support to cope with challenges, but it has yet to consider how this applies to the anxiety occasioned by outgroups. Research on intergroup contact has extensively examined how reducing intergroup anxiety improves attitudes towards outgroups, but it has y...

Those in the teaching profession are facing additional challenges when responding to cyberbullying due to the unique features of publicity and severity. Such features are known to negatively impact on young people’s cyberbullying experiences. Teachers’ views on publicity and severity of cyberbullying are currently unknown. The current research draw...

Punimi sjell një këndvështrim psikologjik të pasojave të dhunës diktatoriale. Mungesa apo shkelja e të drejtave të njeriut gjatë dhe pas diktaturës apo konflikteve etnike ndikon negativisht në shëndetin mendor të të prekurve. Studimet mbi traumën shqyrtojnë rolin e ndryshimeve pas diktaturës apo konflikteve. Studimi vë në dukje ndikimin negativ që...

Family financial stress research has typically examined negative effects of deprivation on mental health, which in turn erode financial coping. While this work acknowledges family support’s role in buffering these effects, it has typically overlooked how family identification can act to structure the experience of, and response to, economic challen...

Family financial stress research has typically examined negative effects of deprivation on mental health, which in turn erode financial coping. While this work acknowledges family support’s role in buffering these effects, it has typically overlooked how family identification can act to structure the experience of, and response to, economic challen...

Objectives Fostering, a professional or semi-professional role that is in increasing demand, involves potential exposure to material related to children’s trauma in a domestic setting. Yet, professional vulnerability to secondary traumatic stress (STS) is under-researched in foster carers, as is the suitability of associated intervention techniques...

The global drive for improvements in the efficiency and quality of healthcare has led to the development of frameworks to assist in defining and measuring 'good quality care'. However, such frameworks lack a systematic or meaningful definition of what 'good quality care' means from the patients' perspective. The present research provides an in-dept...

In a global scenario of increasing criminalisation of transnational human mobility, this special issue brings into dialogue different voices and experiences of migration, borders and border crossing. It does so by examining the present and historical socio-political structures of inequality in home, transit, and host societies. As we argue in this...

Objectives This study aimed to assess the degree to which the ‘social cure’ model of psychosocial health captures the understandings and experiences of healthcare staff and patients in a social prescribing (SP) pathway and the degree to which these psychosocial processes predict the effect of the pathway on healthcare usage. Design Mixed-methods:...

Objectives: The prevalence of depression and loneliness are increasing in Western nations, and both have been shown to cause poor sleep quality, with evidence suggesting that loneliness also predicts depression. The Social Cure perspective can shed light on these relationships, and thus informs the present study. Specifically, it was hypothesised t...

Those in the teaching profession are facing additional challenges when responding to cyberbullying due to unique features of publicity and severity. Such features are known to negatively impact on young people’s cyberbullying experiences. Teachers’ views on publicity and severity of cyberbullying are currently unknown. The current research draws on...

To gain an insight into how those entering the teaching profession regard cyberbullying, two focus groups were conducted with nine pre-service teachers (PSTs). Thematic analytical approach revealed three themes: (a) evolving nature of bullying, (b) involvement in cyberbullying and (c) management of cyberbullying. PSTs discussed how cyberbullying wa...

A substantial literature supports the important role that social group memberships play in enhancing health. While the processes through which group memberships constitute a ‘Social Cure’ are becoming increasingly well-defined, the mechanisms through which these groups contribute to vulnerability and act as a ‘Social Curse’ are less understood. We...

Attention is being given to healthcare initiatives with the potential to save money and improve lives. One example is social prescribing, which supports patients whose ill-health is exacerbated by loneliness. While evidence has accumulated attesting to social prescribing's efficacy, one limitation has been the lack of a theoretical framework, which...

Food insecurity in developed countries has increased rapidly. Research has suggested that stigma may inhibit food‐aid help‐seeking, but has failed to determine how such barriers might be overcome. Adopting a social identity perspective, this study explored the processes involved in food‐aid helping transactions and sought to identify conditions tha...

Over 29,000 foreign nationals are detained yearly in British Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) for undefined periods. This study investigated the role played by social identities in the way detainees are affected by, make sense of, and deal with detention. An opportunity sample of 40 detainees were interviewed on topics including support, identity...

The rise and availability of digital technologies for young people have presented additional challenges for teachers in the school environment. One such challenge is cyberbullying, an escalating concern, associated with wide-reaching negative consequences for those involved and the surrounding community. The present systematic review explored teach...

Research on residential diversification has neglected its impact on neighbourhood identity and overlooked the very different identity‐related experiences of new and existing residents. The present research examines how incoming and established group members relate to their changing neighbourhood in the increasingly desegregated city of Belfast, Nor...

Young people are vulnerable to online risks such as cyberbullying due to the increased accessibility of digital technologies. Although cyberbullying often occurs outside of the school environment, it can have a detrimental impact on academic achievement and attainment. To gain an insight into how those entering the teaching profession regard cyberb...

Research on residential diversification has mainly focused on its negative impacts upon community cohesion and positive effects on intergroup relations. However, these analyses ignore how neighbourhood identity can shape the consequences of diversification among residents. Elsewhere, research using the Applied Social Identity Approach (ASIA) has de...

In this chapter, we document challenges we face in conducting ongoing research on everyday life in immigration removal centres (IRCs) many of which relate to the highly contested nature of these sites. Immigration detention is frequently in the news, yet rarely the topic of independent academic scrutiny. The Home Office and the private companies wh...

Cyberbullying presents many challenges for educators across a variety of educational levels (pre-service; primary; secondary & college). To assist in understanding cyberbullying in the school environment, it is important to consider educators conceptualisation and perceptions towards the growing phenomena. A systematic review was conducted to inves...

Purpose: Unintentional injuries have a significant long-term health impact in working age adults. Depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are common post-injury, but their impact on self-reported recovery has not been investigated in general injury populations. This study investigated the role of psychological predictors 1 month pos...

This systematic review will synthesize evidence across the cyberbullying literature considering educators' perspectives on cyberbullying. The empirical research, both qualitative and quantitative will be systematically appraised and reviewed to collate evidence and research examining educators' perceptions towards cyberbullying. The main research o...

Purpose: To demonstrate the impact of psychological morbidity 1 month post-injury on subsequent post-injury quality of life (HRQoL) in a general injury population in the UK to inform development of trauma care and rehabilitation services. Methods: Multicentre cohort study of 16-70-year-olds admitted to 4 UK hospitals following injury. Psychologi...

Drawing on targeted, exploratory interviews with a small number of staff and detainees (n=30) conducted in February 2017, this report sets out a series of common practices and issues relating to services access and quality of mental health service provision, including ACDT plans in Morton Hall IRC. While many of the findings are negative, including...

Background: The benefits of work for physical, psychological, and financial wellbeing are well documented. Return to work (RTW) after unintentional injury is often delayed, and psychological morbidity may contribute to this delay. The impact of psychological morbidity on RTW after a wide range of unintentional injuries in the UK has not been adequ...

Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) are deeply contested institutions that rarely open their doors to independent research. In this article we discuss some of the complications we faced in conducting the first national British study of everyday life in them. As we will set out, research relationships were difficult to forge due to low levels of trus...