51

Skip navigation

Dr Nicki O'Brien

Associate Professor

Department: Psychology

Nicki is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology. She is a Chartered Health Psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. Nicki’s research focuses on developing and evaluating complex interventions that are designed to make a demonstrable contribution to the promotion of individual, population and global health. Her work includes lifestyle-based interventions for primary and secondary prevention of chronic conditions, , and community pharmacy supported interventions. Nicki leads the Health Behaviour and Behaviour Change Research group at Northumbria.

Nicki is a Visiting Researcher at the , Heidelberg University in Germany.

Nicki uses quantitative and qualitative research methods, and has particular experience in intervention co-design; n-of-1 methods; systematic reviewing and meta-analysis; and randomised and pragmatic trials. Her work has been funded by NIHR, MRC, ESRC, Versus Arthritis, Lewy Body Society, Department of Health and the Cabinet Office.

Nicki is an experienced postgraduate supervisor and is registered as an Applied Psychology Practice Supervisor. If you are would like to discuss potential supervision of a PhD or Stage 2 Health Psychology training, please get in touch.

Nicki O'Brien

  • Global health and behaviour change
  • 'Languageless' animated health communication
  • N-of-1 (single case) methodology
  • Digital and blended (digital + human) health behaviour change interventions
  • Community pharmacy supported interventions for chronic health conditions
  • Physical activity behaviour change
  • Arthritis and musculoskeletal health
  • Intervention co-design with stakeholders

  • Colin Stephenson Exploring the impact and potential scalability of a group consultation, social prescribing intervention to tackle patient frequent appointment attendance in NHS primary care services. Start Date: 01/01/2023
  • Angela Long “They’re pushing people towards pharmacy”: An exploration of community pharmacy’s role in the management of musculoskeletal conditions Start Date: 01/04/2021

Current PhD supervision:

David Bourne. Chronic pancreatitis: towards a comprehensive, patient-centred, evidence-based model of nutritional care. NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship

Beckie Gibson. Understanding persuasive effects of message framing for vaccination uptake in university students. Northumbria Doctoral Studentship

Angela Long. The role of commuinty pharmacy in the management of age-related musculoskeletal conditions. ESRC Doctoral Studentship 

Chris Penlington. Psychological therapy for orofacial pain: series of N-of-1 studies

Colin Stephenson. Ensuring the future sustainability of NHS primary care: applying a Group Consultation model in community pharmacy settings to help address population health inequalities. Northumbria Doctoral Studentship

  • Psychology PhD June 01 2010
  • Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society AFBPsS 2019
  • Chartered Member British Psychological Society CPsychol 2011
  • Registered Practitioner Psychologist, Health and Care Professions Council 2011


a sign in front of a crowd
+

Northumbria Open Days

Open Days are a great way for you to get a feel of the University, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the course(s) you are interested in.

Research at Northumbria
+

Research at Northumbria

Research is the life blood of a University and at 51 we pride ourselves on research that makes a difference; research that has application and affects people's lives.

+

Find out what life here is all about. From studying to socialising, term time to downtime, we’ve got it covered.


Latest News and Features

Pair of feet walking on a treadmill
51 fashion graduate Abbie Inwood
Woman looking at prison
Roslynn Nunn North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust Lynette Shotton (Associate Professor, Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing,  51) Cheryl Elliot (Assistant Professor, Nursing, Midwifery and Health, 51)
Lol Crawley with his Oscar for Best Cinematography
An example of stromatolites investigated in the study found in the Cheshire Formation of the Belingwe greenstone belt, Zimbabwe. Photo credit: Professor Axel Hofmann
More news

Back to top