Wendy Chaplin

Background

About Wendy Chaplin

I am the project researcher working on the Pain at Work Trial at the School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham. “We are one of just 6 research teams in the UK that has been awarded funding from the Nuffield Foundation and Versus Arthritis as part of a £1.94 million investment into research to improve work and wellbeing for people with musculoskeletal conditions. We are running a multicentre cluster randomised feasibility trial to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the Pain-at-Work toolkit. This involves recruiting organisations and delivering the toolkit to employees across the UK through their workplace. We will collect outcome data with around 120 employees on their work capacity, health, and wellbeing. And we will interview a sub-sample of up to 40 employees and line managers to talk to them in more depth about their experiences of using the toolkit. The project runs from March 2023 to November 2025. The overall aim is to enable employees to change their self-management to improve their ability to work and be productive at work.” I am also a Ph.D. researcher, investigating musculoskeletal pain and frailty in an ageing population. I completed an MSc in Health Psychology at the University of Nottingham. Since attaining a First-Class degree in Psychology, I have built on my theoretical knowledge of beliefs and behaviour change. Thus, enhancing the practical knowledge gained in the last nineteen years as a skilled practitioner in remedial massage, health, and exercise therapy working with athletes and the general public. I have learned how to interact with clients and help them to adhere and adapt to behaviour change thus managing their long-term conditions and symptoms. Whilst also recognising the importance of focusing on stress management, client education, and health maintenance. In the last few years, I have been particularly drawn to looking at patient and health-care professional communication, carrying out research projects in this area at both undergraduate and now postgraduate level. As an experienced practitioner, I passionately believe in a holistic approach that takes account of bio-psycho-social factors and not only bio-medical ones. Which enhance patients’ self-management of their illness/condition and values a collaborative approach empowering autonomy, self-esteem and relatedness.