Senior Research Fellow
Background
Alison is Senior Research Fellow on the De-Cluttering (safely) for safety team. She is an experienced applied health researcher who has worked extensively in the area of practitioner collaborative working and patient and caregiver experiences. Her previous research has focused on specialist cancer care, palliative care and community health initiatives in multi-site studies across primary and secondary care and hospice settings, using implementation science and behaviour change theories to inform the development of health care interventions. In recent work as a Principal Investigator, she has used applied critical realist approaches to explore the mechanics of interdisciplinary shared decision-making in situations of uncertainty in advanced cancer.
Alison is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her teaching and supervisory work has focused around implementation science, qualitative and visual research methods (with particular expertise in graphic elicitation), and reflective practice in undergraduate clinical work placements.
Alison has an MSc in Social Research and Evaluation from the University of Huddersfield. Her PhD, conducted at Hull York Medical School (University of Hull), used photo-elicitation, situational analysis and constructivist grounded theory to explore how social context mediates recovery from primary cancer treatment.
Research interests
Alison’s research brings psychological and sociological perspectives to patient, caregiver and practitioner interactions and experiences in health care, and works towards theory-driven, stakeholder-led intervention development.
Selected Publications
Featherstone, I., Johnson, M.J., Sheldon, T., Kelley, R., Hawkins, R., Bravington, A., Callin, S., Dixon, R., Obita, G., Siddiqi, N. (2025) Delirium prevention in hospices: Opportunities and limitations – A focused ethnography. Palliative Medicine. epub: doi: 10.1177/02692163241310762
Bravington, A., Boland, J., Lind, M., Murtagh, F.E.M., Patterson, M., Pearson, M., Johnson, M.J. (2024) Exploring Pathways to Optimise Care in malignant bowel obstruction (EPOC) – Protocol for a three-phase critical realist approach to theory-led intervention development for shared decision-making. PLOS ONE. 19(1):e0294218.
Bravington, A., Johnson, M.J., Macleod, U. (2024) Turning a curve: How people use everyday resources to negotiate recovery from cancer treatment with curative intent. Qualitative Health Research. 34(7):635-648.
Kearsley, S., Walker, L., Johnson, M.J., Bravington, A. (2024) Ancillary hospital workers’ experience during COVID-19: systematic review and narrative synthesis. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care. 14(e2).
Chatwin, J., Ludwin, K., Jones, D., Bravington, A. (2024) Understanding interaction in problematic dementia and social care encounters: Protocol for a micro-level study combining video-ethnography and Conversation Analysis (CA). PLOS ONE. 19(6):e0305069.
Bravington A., Obita G., Baddeley E., Johnson M.J., Murtagh, F.E.M., Currow, D.C., Boland, E.G., Nelson, A., Seddon, .K, Oliver, A., Noble, S.I.R., Boland, J.W. (2023) Development of a Core Outcome Set for the research and assessment of inoperable malignant bowel obstruction. PLOS ONE. 18(8):e0289501.
Bravington, A. (2023) Experience in the abstract: Exploring the potential of graphic elicitation. In Roulston, K. (Ed) Quests for Questioners: Inventive approaches to qualitative interviews. Maine: Myers Education Press.
Bayley, Z., Bravington, A., Forward, C., Manthorpe, J., Roberts, H., Walker, L., White, C., Johnson, M.J. (2023) SUPPORTED: Supporting, enabling and sustaining homecare workers to deliver end-of-life care: A qualitative study. PLOS ONE. 18(12):e0291525
Bravington, A., Obita, G., Baddeley, E., Johnson, M.J., Murtagh, F.E.M., Currow, D.C., Boland, E.G., Nelson, A., Seddon, K., Oliver, A., Noble, S.I.R. and Boland, J.W. (2022) The range and suitability of outcome measures used in the assessment of palliative treatment for inoperable malignant bowel obstruction: A systematic review. Palliative Medicine. 36(9):1336-1350.
Baddeley, E., Mann, M., Bravington, A., Johnson, M.J., Currow, D.C., Murtagh, F.E.M., Boland, E.G., Obita, G., Oliver, A., Seddon, K., Nelson, A., Boland, J.W., Noble, S.I.R. (2022) Symptom burden and lived experiences of patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals on the management of malignant bowel obstruction: A qualitative systematic review. Palliative Medicine. 36(6):985-911.
Bravington, A., Chen, H., Dyson, J., Jones, L., Dalgliesh, C., Bryan, A., Patnick, J. and Macleod, U. (2022) Translating qualitative data into intervention content using the Theoretical Domains Framework and stakeholder co-design: a worked example from a study of cervical screening attendance in older women. BMC Health Services Research. 22:610.
Bravington, A., Chen, H., Dyson, J., Jones, L., Dalgliesh, C., Bryan, A., Patnick, J. and Macleod, U. (2022) Challenges and opportunities for cervical screening in women over the age of 50 years: A qualitative study. British Journal of General Practice. 72(725): e873-e881.
Baddeley, E., Bravington, A., Johnson, M.J., Currow, D.C., Murtagh, F.E.M., Boland, E.G., Obita, G., Nelson, A., Seddon, K., Oliver, A., Noble, S.I.R. and Boland, J.W. (2020) Development of a core outcome set to use in the research and assessment of malignant bowel obstruction: Protocol for the RAMBO study. BMJ Open. 10:e039154.
Bravington, A. and King, N. (2019) Putting graphic elicitation into practice: Tools and typologies for the use of participant-led diagrams in qualitative research interviews, Qualitative Research. 19(5):506-523.
Johnston, B., Matthews, G., Patterson, A., Bravington, A., Hardy, B., Seymour, J. (2018) Qualitative component of a longitudinal mixed methods programme evaluation using in-depth interviews. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care. 8 (suppl 1_ A1-79).
Brooks, J., King, N., Bravington, A., Hardy, B., Melvin, J. and Wilde, D. (2017) The Pictor technique: Exploring experiences of collaborative working from the perspectives of generalist and specialist nurses. In Brooks, J. and King, N., Applied qualitative research in psychology. London: Palgrave.
King, N., Bravington, A., Brooks, J., Melvin, J. and Wilde, D. (2017) “Go make your face known”: Collaborative working through the lens of personal relationships. International Journal of Integrated Care, 17(4), pp3-14.
Noble, B., King, N., Woolmore, A., Hughes, P., Winslow, M., Melvin, J., Brookes, J., Bravington, A., Ingleton, C., Bath, P. (2015) Can comprehensive specialised end of life care be provided at home? Lessons from a study of an innovative consultant-led community service in the UK. European Journal of Cancer Care. 24(2):253-66.
King, N., Brooks, J. and Bravington, A. (2014) The Pictor technique: Exploring collaborative working in nursing, in Sage Research Methods Case Series. London: Sage Publications.
King, N., Bravington, A., Brooks, J., Hardy, B., Melvin, J. and Wilde, D. (2013) The Pictor technique: A method for exploring the experience of collaborative working, Qualitative Health Research, 23(8), pp1138-1152.
Kirkby-Geddes, E., King, N. and Bravington, A. (2012) Through the lens of social capital: An examination of people’s experiences of community group participation in the context of a Healthy Living Centre, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 23, pp271-285.
Recent funding
2021-2024: Bravington, A., Johnson, M.J., Boland, J.W., Lind, M., Murtagh, F.E.M., Pearson, M., Patterson, M. Improving shared decision-making in malignant bowel obstruction: An exploration of context-specific treatment pathways and experiences to inform intervention development for person-centred care. Yorkshire Cancer Research. £210,701.
2022-2024: Chatwin, J., Ludwin, K., Jones, D., Bravington, A. Understanding interaction in problematic dementia and social care encounters. NIHR Research for Patient Benefit. £143,060.
2022-2025: Walker, E., Johnson, M., Manthorpe, G., Wray, J., White, C., Bravington, A., Pearson, M., Taylor, P., Roberts, H., Hussain, J., Bothma, J. Supporting, enabling and sustaining homecare workers to deliver end-of-life care: A multiple methods community-based case study. NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research. £745,903.59.