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Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care

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Brendan Hallam

Brendan Hallam picture

My PhD Title: “What is good for your heart is good for your brain”: A mixed methods study on reducing dementia risk in UK Primary Care'

Supervisor: Prof Kate Walters, Prof Claudia Cooper, Prof Irene Petersen, Dr Christina Avgerinou

Lay summary: The PhD is jointly funded by ESRC UBEL DTP and NIHR and is embedded within the APPLE-Tree programme: Active Prevention in People at risk of dementia: Lifestyle, bEhaviour change and Technology to REducE cognitive and functional decline, led by Prof Claudia Cooper. The PhD is a mixed methods study on reducing dementia risk in UK Primary Care. Comparisons of NHS treatment across people who are at higher and lower risk of developing dementia are explored to outline how active dementia preventative care could be optimised in UK Primary Care. The second part of the PhD will be qualitative semi-structured interviews with people at high risk of developing dementia to explore the barriers and facilitators to engaging in these dementia prevention strategies (e.g. increasing exercise, managing cardiovascular risk and addressing social isolation).

My Background 

I completed my BSc undergraduate degree (2014) in Psychology at the University of Chichester, where my dissertation investigated cross-cultural differences in response styles to Likert-type questionnaires. It was after graduating and working as an Honorary Psychology Assistant in a dementia inpatient ward at Horsham Hospital that solidified my passion and desire to stay within the field of dementia. Since graduating in 2014 I have worked within the field of dementia across the NHS, private health sector, third sector and in academia - both at UCL and at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) in Melbourne, Australia. Within the last year, I came back to UCL to complete the Clinical Mental Health Sciences MSc where I conducted a systematic review attempting to outline the neural correlates of Anosognosia and meta-cognition in people living with Alzheimer’s Disease. Overall, for the last nine years I have had experience of working or studying within mental health and dementia. I hope to continue to develop and learn so that I can contribute meaningful research in reducing people’s risk of developing dementia. 

Qualifications

BSc Psychology, University of Chichester (2011- 2014), First Class Honours

MSc Clinical Mental Health Sciences, University College London (2018- 2019), Results - pending final confirmation 
Awards

UCL Division of Psychiatry Award/Scholarship 2018

Publications

Kinnunen, K. M., Rapaport, P., Webster, L., Barber, J., Kyle, S. D., Hallam, B., ... & Espie, C. A. (2018). A manual-based intervention for carers of people with dementia and sleep disturbances: an acceptability and feasibility RCT. Health Technology Assessment. 22(71), 1-408. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3310/hta22710

Rapaport, P., Webster, L., Horsley, R., Kyle, S. D., Kinnunen, K. M., Hallam, B., ... & Livingston, G. (2018). An intervention to improve sleep for people living with dementia: Reflections on the development and co-production of DREAMS: START (Dementia RElAted Manual for Sleep: STrAtegies for RelaTives). Dementia, 17(8), 976-989.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301218789559

Livingston, G., Barber, J. A., Kinnunen, K. M., Webster, L., Kyle, S. D., Cooper, C., Espie, C., Hallam, B., ... & Rapaport, P. (2018). DREAMS-START (Dementia RElAted Manual for Sleep; STrAtegies for RelaTives) for people with dementia and sleep disturbances: a single-blind feasibility and acceptability randomized controlled trial. International psychogeriatrics, 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610218000753

Goh, A. M., Gaffy, E., Hallam, B., & Dow, B. (2018). An update on dementia training programmes in home and community care. Current opinion in psychiatry, 31(5), 417-423. DOI: 10.1097/YCO.0000000000000438

Contact details (email, twitter handle, Instagram etc.)

Brendan.hallam.18@ucl.ac.uk

Twitter: @BrendanHallam1