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Shanu Sadhwani

Ms Shanu Sadhwani (BA, PGCE, MA, MSc, MSc)

Research Fellow
E: S.Sadhwani@bsms.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1273 644562
Location: Room 319, Watson Building, University of Brighton, Falmer BN1 9PH

Areas of expertise: Dementia diagnosis, health psychology, dementia prevention

Research areas: Health services research, primary care, electronic health records, qualitative research, illness narratives, health inequities

Biography

Shanu Sadhwani is a Research Fellow of Behavioural Medicine, and a Graduate member of the British Psychological Society, and the Division of Health Psychology. She has been a researcher in the Division of Primary Care and Public Health at BSMS since 2015, specialising in elderly medicine, health inequities, and dementia.

She is currently working as a Local Clinical Trial Manager for PRODEMOS: a large scale EU funded project assessing whether a behaviour change m-Health intervention can help middle-aged and elderly populations reduce their risk of dementia.

Additionally, Shanu is in the final write-up stages of her doctoral thesis examining the diagnosis of dementia in the UK. Her research interests include elderly medicine, and doctor patient communication. She is particularly interested in health inequities, sustained lifestyle behaviour change, and qualitative methodologies.

Initially, Shanu trained in the performing arts, graduating from Goldsmiths, University of London with an MA in Performance and Culture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. She began teaching in secondary schools, further education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) in the Performing Arts and English. Shanu worked extensively in the volunteer sector with abuse victims and homeless populations, which resulted in a shift in her career. Developing an interest in the illness experience, and narrative medicine, she worked in General Practice whilst retraining as a health psychologist. She completed an MSc in Health Psychology in 2012, and began teaching undergraduate and postgraduate psychology. She began her doctoral research at BSMS in 2015, and was appointed as a Research Fellow and Local Clinical Trial Manage at BSMS in 2018.

Shanu has held numerous committee responsibilities including: The Midlands Health Psychology Network (4 years) and the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) Division of Health Psychology (4 years). Currently, she sits on the BSMS Research and Governance Ethics Committee (RGEC) as a Primary Care and Qualitative Methodologies specialist.

Research

Dementia is a global health priority, and due to the increases in life expectancy globally, the prevalence of dementia is expected to double by 2050. Without a cure, and with limited treatment options, our best course of action is prevention., and person-centred care.

Shanu is a Local Clinical Trial Manager in an international consortium PRODEMOS, who are conducting a large-scaled international randomised controlled trial (RCT) in order to assess whether a mobile phone application can help middle-aged and elderly people sustain lifestyle behaviour changes and reduce their risk of dementia. She is currently responsible for a team of health coaches and administrators to conduct the trial in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, aiming to commence in October 2020.

Shanu is passionate about dispelling myths, and addressing health inequities in Black, Asian, Minority, and Ethnic (BAME) populations. To this end, she has conducted several Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) events in the UK and abroad on psychological topics including: dementia, depression, and lifestyle behaviour change for the elderly.

Teaching

Shanu has taught undergraduate and postgraduate students across a variety of disciplines since 2008. She has significant experience teaching psychology and social science students: research methods (quantitative and qualitative), health psychology, mental health, and social psychology.

She contributes to the teaching on undergraduate and postgraduate courses delivered at BSMS.

She delivers sessions to medial students using psychological and sociological approaches to improve clinician patient communication; exploring real-life strategies to reduce stigma, sustain lifestyle behaviour change, and communicate evidence-based medicine effectively to patient populations.

To postgraduate students on MSc Public Health, MSc Global Health, and Dementia Studies, Shanu delivers sessions on: BAME Health inequities, Mental Health, Representations of Dementia, and Mixed Method approaches to Epidemiology.

Shanu also supervises research students. She is currently supervising one MSc student on the diagnosis and care practices of Lewy Body dementia. Prospective students can contact Shanu for supervisor consideration..

Selected publications

Pollard A., Bradley J., Sadhwani S., Cooper M., Llewellyn C. The NHS England Fundamental Information Standard for Monitoring Sexual Orientation in health and adult social care: context and evidence of feasibility. (2019) The NHS England Fundamental Information Standard for Monitoring Sexual Orientation. British Journal of General Practice. 69. 94-95. 10.3399/bjgp19X701213.

Ford E., Greenslade N., Paudyal P., Bremner S., Smith H., Banerjee S., Sadhwani S., Rooney P., Oliver S., Cassell J., Predicting dementia from primary care records: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 13(3): e0194735. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0194735