Tailored interventions in irritable bowel syndrome
Summary
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a widespread functional digestive disorder the current aetiology of which is unknown. Prevalence estimates vary but values of 15 to 22% have been cited. The main study on this project will be a longitudinal intervention study investigating the relative efficacy of tailored versus non-tailored interventions for both health related quality of life and symptom severity. The study will compare different forms of tailored advice with a condition where sufferers are given general advice and a control condition where no advice is given. Tailoring will be based on measures of illness representations and of health locus of control.
Team
Researchers
Professor Richard Shepherd
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Biography
Richard Shepherd is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology, having retired in August 2011. He obtained degrees in Natural Sciences from Cambridge and in Psychology from Cardiff and Southampton. He was a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey and then worked at the Institute of Food Research from 1982 to 1998, initially in Norwich and then in Reading, before joining the University of Surrey as a Reader.
He has carried out research on a range of issues related to the factors influencing food choice. In particular this has involved the development and application of social cognition models to food choice issues and the exploration of the factors influencing dietary change. He has also conducted research on the perception of risk and risk communication particularly in relation to food issues. He has published widely in all of these areas of research, including editing two books.
He has directed research funded by BBSRC, ESRC, MAFF, FSA, Wellcome Trust and industry, in addition to several collaborative European projects funded by the EU. He is a Chartered Psychologist and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. In the past Richard has been a member of the UK Food Standards Agency Social Science Research Committee, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) Social Science Expert Advisory Group and the ESRC Grant Assessment Panel.
Carly Jacobs
Researcher
Outputs
Conference presentations
Jacobs, C. & Shepherd, R. (2005). Attitudes to Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Epilepsy and Chronic Asthma. Poster presented at the 19th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Galway, 31 August - 3 September 2005.
Jacobs, C. & Shepherd, R. (2006). Role of doctor-patient communication in illness representations, and outcomes in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 14 (1), 37. Poster presented at the BPS Health Psychology Conference, Coventry, 7-9 September 2005.
Jacobs, C. & Shepherd, R. (2006). Self regulatory based interventions in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Psychology & Health, 21 (Supplement 1), 71. Paper presented at the European Health Psychology Society Conference, Warsaw, 30 August - 2 September 2006.
Jacobs, C. & Shepherd, R. (2006). A self-help booklet based approach to the management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Poster presented at the BPS Health Psychology Division Conference, Essex, 13-15 September 2006.
Research groups and centres
Our research is supported by research groups and centres of excellence.