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My PhD Title: Exploring the interplay between social support and alcohol consumption
Supervisors: Prof Annie Britton, Dr Paola Zaninotto, Dr Fiona Aspinal
Lay summary: We are increasingly realising the importance of social connectivity for health; however, alcohol consumption is often thought of as a social activity, yet is associated with multiple adverse health consequences. I am interested in unpicking how social relationships and alcohol consumption interact throughout the life course and how factors such as mental health play a part in this relationship. I hope that a better understanding of the relationship between social support and alcohol will help us to develop more broadly relatable public health interventions, by incorporating the complex social (as well as health) aspects of alcohol consumption in the UK.
My Background
My first job was working with street drinkers in Nottingham, and this led to me training to be a mental health nurse. When I qualified, I pursued my interest in addictions through working in community drug and alcohol services where I became involved in a research trial for injectable opiate treatments. My love of research led me to become a research nurse and eventually a research manager in the NHS, until I decided to develop my own research skills through a PhD. Alcohol research has always been my passion, and, inspired by Geoffrey Rose’s work on shifting population distributions, I wanted the opportunity to explore alcohol consumption at a population level in order to improve health across the consumption spectrum. My PhD, funded by the MRC and based in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, is enabling me to do this.
Qualifications
PGCert Clinical Research: NIHR Studentship, Merit. University of Brighton, 2016.
MSc Health Psychology, Distinction. University of Sussex, 2012.
- Research dissertation: Challenging the sufficiency of utility-based approaches to decision making: An application of the logic of appropriateness in the prediction of binge drinking attitudes and intentions.
- Prize for best performance on the MSc in Health Psychology 2012.
PGDip Nursing Studies (Mental Health), Distinction. University of Nottingham, 2006.
BA (Hons) European Business with French, 2:1. Nottingham Trent University, 2002.
Publications
- Case, P., Angus, C., De Voght, F., Holmes, J., Michie, S. West, R. & Brown, J. (2021). Has the increased participation in the national campaign ‘Dry January’ been associated with cutting down alcohol consumption in England? Drug & Alcohol Dependence. Manuscript under review.
- Case, P., Ng Fat, L. & Shelton, N. (2019). Exploring the characteristics of newly defined at-risk drinkers following the change to the UK low risk drinking guidelines: a retrospective analysis using Health Survey for England data. BMC Public Health. 19 (1). DOI: 10.1186/s12889-019-7240-0
- Case, P., Sparks, P. & Pavey, L.J. (2016). Identity appropriateness and the structure of the theory of planned behaviour. British Journal of Social Psychology. 55(1), 109-125. DOI:10.1111/bjso.12115
- Green, A., Case, P. & Taylor, I. (2017). Enhancing research awareness in mental health student nurses through a research and development spoke placement experience. Mental Health Practice. 20(7), 24-28.
- Gaughran, F., Stahl, D., Ismail, K., Greenwood, K., Atakan, Z., Gardner-Sood, P., Stubbs, B., Hopkins, D., Patel, A., Lally, J., Lowe, P., Arbuthnot, M., Orr, D., Corlett, S., Eberhard, J., David, A.S., Murray, R., Smith, S., […Case, P….] (2017). Randomised control trial of the effectiveness of an integrated psychosocial health promotion intervention aimed at improving health and reducing substance use in established psychosis (IMPaCT). BMC Psychiatry. 17(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12888-017-1571-0
Appointments
Recent Employment
Clinical Research Team Leader: Kent & Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust (part-time), March 2020 – ongoing
Division 4 Project Manager: Kent, Surrey and Sussex Clinical Research Network (part-time), Sept 2017-Sept 2018
Research Manager: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Jan 2015 – Sept 2017
Recent Teaching
Visiting Lecturer, University of Westminster: PSYC008W Clinical Psychology (BSc) (2019-2020)
Post Graduate Teaching Assistant, UCL: IEHC0045 Epidemiology (MSc) (2018-).
Second marker, UCL: IEHC0052 Social Epidemiology: Dimensions of inequality (MSc) (2018-2019)
Guest Lecturer, University of Brighton School of Health Sciences:
- BSc (Hons) Nursing: NI508 Developing Clinical Research Nurse Careers module. ‘The role of the clinical research nurse’. (2014-2018)
- NA6133 Research Approaches Methods, Critical Appraisal and Utility module: ‘Research Ethics and the Role of the Clinical Research Nurse’. (2015 – 2018)
Contact details
Philippa.case.17@ucl.ac.uk
@PhilippaCase