Dr Penney Upton - Head of Academic Unit

Senior Lecturer, Psychological Sciences

Institute of Health & Society

Contact Details

email: p.upton@worc.ac.uk

tel: 01905 54 2162

MA, MPhil, PhD Psychology

Teaching & Research

My teaching and research relates primarily to human development and wellbeing across the lifespan.  I am particularly interested in child and adult health, including health and quality of life, the well being of children in local authority care, and the educational and psychological impact of chronic illness in childhood.

My interest in health has led to me undertaking a number of health service evaluations, as well as work investigating the application of evidence based practice.   

I am also involved in research concerning methods of learning and teaching, including the use of e-learning and innovative assessment methods.

Research Interests

Evaluation of the Allied Health Professionals Support and Development Scheme (NHS Education for Scotland)

Assessment of the clinical application of a measurement system of health related quality of life to Children in Local Authority Accommodation

Pilot project looking at the impact of antenatal classes on postnatal support and wellbeing

 

Professional Interests

The application of evidence based healthcare; Health related quality of life for children with chronic illness; well being of children in local authority care; methods of learning and teaching including the use of e-learning and assessment methods; psychological development across the life span

Professional Experience

Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol)

Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS)

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Publications

Upton, P. (2011).  Critical Thinking in Psychology: Developmental Psychology.  Exeter: Learning Matters

Upton P (2011).  Psychology Express: Developmental Psychology.  Harlow: Pearson Education

Begh RA, Aveyard P, Upton P et al (2011) Promoting smoking cessation in Pakistani and Bangladeshi men in the UK: pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of trained community outreach workers. Trials, 12, 197

Begh RA, Aveyard P, Upton P et al (2011) Experiences of outreach work in promoting smoking cessation to Bangladeshi and Pakistani men: longitudinal qualitative evaluation BMC Public Health

Upton P., Taylor C., Beddows, S., Upton D.  (2010). Evaluating Family Interventions for childhood obesity using the National Obesity Observatory Standard Evaluation Framework.  Community Practitioner, 83, 34-35.

Solowiej K, Upton P., Upton D. (2010) An evaluation of a pilot scheme to support recruitment and retention of allied health professionals to hard to fill Posts. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 17 (10) 494-501

Upton D., Upton P., Solowiej K. (2009) An Evaluation of a Pilot Scheme to Support the Development Newly Qualified Practitioners (NQPs) in NHSScotland. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 101,2

Begh RA, Aveyard P, Upton P, Bhopal RS, et al (2009). Promoting smoking cessation in Bangladeshi and Pakistani male adults: Design of a pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of trained community smoking cessation workers, Trials, 10,71

Upton P.  (2008)  Teaching granny (and grandpa) to suck eggs: psychology and the practising teacher.  Psychology Teaching Review, 14(1), 30

Watkeys JM, Price LD, Upton PM (2008) The Timing Of Medical Examination Following An Allegation Of Sexual Abuse - Is This An Emergency? Archives of Disease in childhood. Archives of disease in Childhood 93, 851-856    

Upton P, Lawford J, Eiser C (2008) Parent–child agreement across child health-related quality of life instruments: a review of the literature. Quality of Life Research published Online First 3 June 2008, doi: 10.1007/s11136-008-9350-5. Available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/a2k27g7308537763/

Upton, P. and Upton, D. (2008). A Psychometric Approach to Health Related Quality of Life Measurement:  A research Users’ Guide.  In F. Columbus, (ed) Psychological Tests and Testing. New York: Novascience

Eiser C, Upton P (2007) Costs of caring for a child with cancer, Child: Care, Health & Development 33, 455-459

Upton P and Eiser C (2007) Learning Difficulties and Brain Tumor.  In Randall, SV (ed) Learning Disabilities: New Research.  New York: Novascience

Upton, D. & Upton, P. (2006) Development of the Evidence Based Practice Questionnaire for Nurses (EBPQ). Jourmal of advanced nursing, 54, 454-458

Upton, P., Eiser, C. (2006) School experiences after treatment for a brain tumour Child: Care, Health & Development, 32, 1, 9–17

Upton, D. & Upton, P. (2006) Knowledge and use of evidence based practice of GPs and Hospital doctors.  Journal of evaluation in clinical practice 12, 3, 376-384

Upton, P., Maddocks, A., Eiser, C., Barnes, P.M., Williams, J. (2005) Development of a Measure of the Health Related Quality of Life of Children in Public Care. Child: Care, Health and Development 31, 409-415.

Upton, P., Eiser, C., Cheung, W.Y., Hutchings, H., Jenney, M., Maddocks, A., Russell, I., & Williams, J.G. (2005). Measurement properties of the UK-English version of the pediatric quality of life inventorytm 4.0 (pedsql0) generic core scales Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 3, 22

External Responsibilities

External responsibilities

External Examiner at the University of Bolton
Committee member of the Division for Teachers & Researchers in Psychology (DTRP)
Member of the OCR Psychology Consultative Forum
Member of the Association of Heads of Psychology Departments