Kate Halsall, Consultant Occupational Therapist, is celebrating her national success after being awarded the ‘Early Researcher Award’ by the Royal College of Occupational Therapists.
This annual award is presented to an individual who as part of developing their learning in research, has produced a study which relates to Occupational Therapy. Kate’s research piece titled “Understanding Occupational Therapy Practice in Mothers from Ethnic Minorities; a qualitative study of the perceived barriers, enablers and requirements of occupational therapists working within community perinatal mental health services” was included in the final shortlist of eight pieces before being named the overall winner.
Kate presented her research during a 15 minute presentation followed by a question and answer session hosted by the research and innovation national team, at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists conference in June earlier this year.
The judging panel commented:
“Kate delivered an excellent presentation that noted previous research and how that helped to identify research gaps, clearly explaining her methodology and results.”
Kate worked on her research piece for almost a year and was inspired to undertake the study after recognising the need for a better understanding about how occupational therapists work with mothers from diverse groups during her time on the mother and baby unit. Unable to find the literature she decided to undertake some training in research at the University of Central Lancashire.
Kate explains:
“I’ve worked for the Trust for over 35 years, and I wanted to take the next step in my career but felt I needed to learn more about research and conduct my own study before I was ready to progress to become a consultant occupational therapist. The trust was so supportive in helping me.
I decided on my research topic because I have a deep interest in perinatal mental health, and I could draw on my own work experience. It also fits with my personal and our Trust inclusivity values. I really enjoyed the research, it was challenging at times but incredibly rewarding. I identified that this piece would be transferrable to lots of different clinical areas, and I hope would go some way to breaking down barriers for mothers from ethnic minority backgrounds nationwide.”
Kate will continue studying for her Masters Degree by conducting further research projects.
Kate concludes:
“I’m honoured and delighted to have received this award, it has been a lot of hard work but also helps highlight our Trust and the incredible work we all do. The subject is something I feel personally passionate about and I’m excited to start thinking about how we put the findings into practice. I want to encourage junior members of the team to start thinking about research and how they can start their own research career journeys.”
