Cathy Henshall

Senior Nursing Research Fellow, OxINMAHR, Oxford Brookes University

Cathy works as a Senior Nursing Research Fellow which is a joint post between Oxford Health NHS FD and Oxford Brookes University. She is based at the Oxford Institute for Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Research (OxINMAHR). Cathy’s clinical background is in oncology nursing, and she has worked in a number of different settings, including surgical and oncology wards, in chemotherapy day case clinics and as a cancer research nurse.

Cathy’s research interests focus around self-management and cancer survivorship and her mixed methods PhD explored the self-management strategies of cancer survivors over time, from pre-diagnosis, through treatment and into survivorship. It involved a survey and interview study and explored the reasons why cancer survivors use different self-management practices (diet, exercise, psychological therapies, spirituality and religion, support groups, complementary and alternative medicine) at different points in their cancer pathway.

Prior to being appointed as Senior Nursing Research Fellow Cathy worked for the Maternity and Child Health Theme of the Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) West Midlands, where she was involved in a number of maternity focused research studies. This included leading the ‘Place of Birth’ study, a study which explored ways of improving midwives discussions with women about their options for where to give birth.

As well as designing and undertaking healthcare research, Cathy’s role includes supervising PhD students, as well as teaching on the undergraduate nursing degree programme. She is also the Senior Nurse for the Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford Hospital and is responsible for the clinical supervision of staff. Additionally, Cathy is involved in promoting integration and collaboration between academics and clinicians within and across Oxford Brookes and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, to raise the profile of nursing research. Cathy has numerous publications in peer-reviewed academic journals.