PhD profile Dr Alison Laver Fawcett
Alison is a Senior
Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at York St John University and
Programme Lead for the Research Programme for Occupation and Older
People with Mental Health Problems at the Research Centre for
Occupation and Mental Health (RCOMH). She graduated as an
occupational therapist in 1986 and has a PhD in Psychology (from
the University of Surrey). She has worked in the UK, USA
(Washington School of Medicine, St Louis) and Canada (McMaster
University, Hamilton) in a range of roles including clinician,
researcher, educator, modernisation manager, and professional lead.
Alison was the British Association of Occupational Therapists /
College of Occupational Therapists Council member for International
Affairs which included representing BAOT and COT as the UK World
Federation of Occupational Therapists Council delegate (June 2008
to November 2011). Alison currently serves on the editorial
board of the Occupational Therapy International Journal.
Research interests
Outcome measurement
- The development of the Activity Card Sort United Kingdom
version (ACS-UK).
- The development and application of Occupational Therapy
standardised assessments and outcome measures.
- Developed The Structured Observational Test of Function (SOTOF)
– doctoral and post-doctoral studies.
- Author of ‘Principles of Assessment and Outcome Measurement
for Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists: Theory, Skills
and Application’ (published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd in
2007).
- Alison was a member of the reference group for the College
of Occupational Therapists ‘Developing the second SNOMED CT
subsets: Occupational Therapy Outcomes’ project and
contributed to the previous SNOMED project related to published
assessments used by occupational therapists.
- Alison has been a keynote speaker at a number of events
including the UK Occupational Therapy Research Foundation
(UKOTRF) event on occupational therapy outcome measures (March
2010).
People with dementia and their carers
- Contributed to the development of the National Dementia
Strategy for England by analysing the consultation data for the
Yorkshire and Humber, North West and North East regions of England
and writing the reports on findings from the consultation process
for these 3 regions for the Department of Health. Undertook
secondary data analysis for the Yorkshire and Humber and North East
regions and provided reports on data analysis and recommendations
on key service priorities and the implementation of the National
Dementia Strategy. Contributed to the implementation of the
National Dementia Strategy for Yorkshire and Humber regions.
- Contributed to a national working group regarding a toolkit to
support commissioners to commission for outcomes with people with
dementia and their carers.
Alison is particularly interested in
occupational engagement and measurement of occupational outcomes
with people with dementia.
Supervision experience etc.
Co-supervisor for full time PhD student
‘Doing dementia: the organisation of talk-in-interaction
between a person with dementia and their everyday conversational
partners.’
Two examinations for PhD as an external examiner both
related to assessment (University of Lancaster and University of
Sydney).