Emma Berry

Queen's University Belfast | QUB · Health Clinical and Educational Research Cluster

Over 100 million individuals worldwide experience negative outcomes as a function of a family member or loved one’s substance use. Other reviews have summarized evidence on interventions; however, success often depends on the behavior of the individual causing harm, and they may not be ready or able to change. The aim of this study was to identify...

Previous research exploring the psychological, social, and environmental barriers to recycling has predominantly focused on consumer attitude and behaviour. However, the plastics system involves a chain of stakeholders with a role in decision-making and actions in relation to plastic production and management post-use, affirming the need to explore...

Caregivers of children with chronic conditions face enormous challenges and often poor mental health. ACT may facilitate psychological adjustment for this population. This MMSR therefore aimed to examine the efficacy and acceptability of ACT for caregivers of children (diagnosed aged <18) with long-term conditions. PsychInfo, Ovid MEDLINE, and EMBA...

Introduction: Over 100 million individuals worldwide experience negative outcomes as a function of a family member's substance use. Other reviews have summarized evidence on interventions; however, success often depends on the behavior of the individual causing harm, and they may not be ready or able to change. Aim: To identify and describe evaluat...

Caregivers of children with chronic conditions face enormous challenges and often poor mental health, which can impact their child’s wellbeing. ACT may facilitate psychological adjustment for caregivers of children with long-term conditions. This mixed methods systematic review (MMSR) therefore aimed to examine the efficacy and acceptability of ACT...

Aims Couples living with Type 1 diabetes: co-designing interventions to support them. Methods This is a qualitative study comprising two phases. Phase I represents the exploratory phase, consisting of semi-structured interviews with persons with Type 1 diabetes ( N = 16) and partners ( N = 6). In the second phase, co-design principles guided works...

Objectives Advance care planning is a key preparatory step in ensuring high-quality palliative and end of life care, and should be considered as a process, beginning with community-level conversations among lay persons. There is, however, indication that death talk among community-dwelling adults is not occurring, and there is a dearth of research...

Background Social (or physical) distancing is an important transmission-prevention behaviour that has been endorsed to minimize COVID-19 transmission. This qualitative study explores the facilitators of and barriers to social distancing for young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, with recognition that young people represent a unique demographic...

Despite significant investment to increase recycling facilities and kerbside collection of waste materials, plastic packaging is frequently discarded as litter, resulting in significant environmental harm. This research uses qualitative methods to explore the contextual and psychological factors that influence plastic waste disposal behaviour from...

Social media is an important source of social connection and information acquisition for young people with Type 1 diabetes. This study explores young people with Type 1 diabetes’ online experiences and the impact it has on mental wellbeing. Young people (N=19) with Type 1 diabetes and professional/family caregivers (N=8) took part in online mini-fo...

Previous research exploring the psychological, social, and environmental barriers to recycling has predominantly focused on consumer attitude and behaviour. However the plastics system involves a chain of stakeholders with a role in decision-making and actions in relation to plastic production and management post-use, affirming the need to explore...

Background Social (or physical) distancing is an important transmission-prevention behaviour that has been endorsed to minimize COVID-19 transmission. This qualitative study explores the facilitators of and barriers to social distancing for young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, with recognition that young people represent a unique demographic...

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) first appeared in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and since then has caused unprecedented economic and social disruption as well as presenting a major challenge to public health. Despite mass progress in COVID-19 vaccination uptake, vaccine hesitancy...

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated physical distancing which is expected to continue in some form for the foreseeable future. Physical distancing policies have increased reliance on digital forms of social connection and there are widespread concerns about social isolation and mental health in this context. This qualitative study sought to unde...

This qualitative study explores the facilitators of and barriers to social distancing for young people living in Northern Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative data was collected as part of a larger Qualtrics survey between July 28th 2020 and August 24th 2020. Eligible participants were young people living on the Island of Ireland, aged...

In March 2020, the Your COVID-19 Risk tool was developed in response to the global spread of SARS-CoV-2. The tool is an online resource based on key behavioural evidence-based risk factors related to contracting and spreading SARS-CoV-2. This article describes the development of the tool, the produced resources, the associated open repository, and...

Objectives Vaccine hesitancy is a growing concern and threat to public health. This research will begin to examine the relative influence of relevant psychological, social, and situational factors on intent to engage with a hypothetical COVID‐19 vaccine among key workers and non‐key workers. Design Cross‐sectional. Methods The study utilized a sa...

Objectives Advance care planning is a key preparatory step in ensuring high-quality palliative and end of life care, and should be considered as a process, beginning with community-level conversations among lay persons. There is, however, indication that death talk among community-dwelling adults is not occurring, and there is a dearth of research...

Millions of tonnes of plastic are ending up in our oceans and creating a global environmental hazard. Around 50 percent of plastics are designed for single use, mainly for food packaging. Plastic waste is often found discarded as litter, despite significant investment over the last 20-30 years to increase recycling facilities and kerbside collectio...

Background: Little research has examined the impact of working within the context of COVID-19 on UK healthcare professionals (HCPs) mental health and well-being, despite previous pandemic findings indicating that HCPs are particularly vulnerable to suffering PTSD and other mental health difficulties due to the nature of healthcare work. Specificall...

Background Longitudinal studies examining the temporal association between mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak are needed. It is important to determine how relationships between key outcomes, specifically loneliness and depressive symptoms, manifest over a brief timeframe and in a pandemic context. Method Data was gathered over 4 m...

Bio-based plastics are produced from bio-based raw materials such as sugar cane, potatoes, corn, and agricultural and slaughterhouse waste. The evolution of the bio-based plastics market is affected by the stakeholders involved owing to their role in production processes, environmental guidelines and purchasing decisions. It is therefore imperative...

Background Longitudinal studies examining the temporal association between mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 outbreak are needed. It is important to determine how relationships between mental health outcomes, specifically loneliness and depressive symptoms, manifest over a brief timeframe and in a pandemic context.Method Data was gathered...

Objectives: Loneliness is a significant public health issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in lockdown measures limiting social contact. The UK public are worried about the impact of these measures on mental health outcomes. Understanding the prevalence and predictors of loneliness at this time is a priority issue for research. Method: The...

Although behavioural strategies (e.g. social distancing) have been effective in limiting the transmission of the infectious respiratory disease COVID-19, a longer- term solution, such as the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, is a global priority. Worryingly, vaccine hesitancy (i.e. the delay in acceptance or refusal of a vaccination despite its av...

Background: Little research has examined mental health and well-being in the context of healthcare professionals (HCP) working during the COVID-19 pandemic within the UK. To our knowledge, no research has employed qualitative methodologies in order to examine this. We therefore aim to address this gap in research by qualitatively examining the live...

Bio-based plastics are produced from bio-based raw materials such as sugar cane, potatoes, corn, agricultural and slaughterhouse waste. In 2016, around 4.2 million tonnes of bio-based plastics were produced annually and this is expected to increase (1). The evolution of the bio-based plastic market is affected by the stakeholders involved. Conseque...

Objectives: Loneliness is a significant public health issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in lockdown measures limiting social contact. The UK public are worried about the impact of these measures on mental health outcomes. Understanding the prevalence and predictors of loneliness at this time is a priority issue for research. Design: The stu...

Aims: To compare the emotional distress experienced by people with Type 2 diabetes with the perceptions of their partners, and to explore the perceptions of healthcare providers and how these differ from the perceptions and experiences of couples living with Type 2 diabetes regarding their support needs. Methods: A purposive sample of people wit...

Aims: Partners and spouses have an important role in supporting healthy self-care in adults with Type 2 diabetes. While evidence has shown that the beliefs held by people with diabetes influence emotional wellbeing, little is known about the long-term impact of partners' illness beliefs on diabetes distress. Methods: Persons with Type 2 diabetes...

Objective: Partners have a significant role in a person's ability to adjust to a chronic physical illness, which warrants their inclusion in couples interventions. However to deliver more specific, tailored support it is necessary to explore which types of couples interventions are most effective across certain chronic illness populations and outc...

This report aims to augment what is already known about emotional distress in Type 2 diabetes, by assessing the predictive value of illness perception clusters and relationship quality on four subcategories of Diabetes Distress.162 individuals with Type 2 diabetes responded to a postal questionnaire assessing demographics, depression, diabetes dist...

Diabetes distress is a rational emotional response to the threat of a life-changing illness. Distinct from depression, it is conceptually rooted in the demands of diabetes management and is a product of emotional adjustment. Diabetes distress has been found to be significantly associated with glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level and the likelihood of...