Dr Peter Appleton

Biography

Dr Peter Appleton has a part-time visiting fellowship with the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Essex. His primary research interest is in the planning, practical reasoning, internal conversations, and social support networks of young people in transition from out-of-home care. At Essex University we have completed two intensive qualitative studies with care leavers, both using Professor Margaret Archer's qualitative internal conversations interview framework, and both using IPA for conceptualisation, analysis, and reporting. Four papers have been published: three empirical papers, and a theoretical paper which looks at the relevance of the work of philosophers Michael Bratman and Jennifer Morton to understanding agency in young people transitioning from care. A book has recently been published, with Bristol University Press / Policy Press, : What Matters and Who Matters to Young People Leaving Care: A New Approach to Planning. The book is available Open Access under a CC-BY-NC-ND license. The OA arrangement was supported by the University of Essex OA fund. Our four Essex University papers on internal conversations and planning in care-experienced young people are as follows: Hung, I and Appleton, P (2016). To plan or not to plan: The internal conversations of young people leaving care, Qualitative Social Work, 15, 1, 35-54 Barratt, C, Appleton, P & Pearson, M (2020) Exploring internal conversations to understand the experience of young adults transitioning out of care. Journal of Youth Studies, 23(7), 869-885. Appleton, P (2020) Anchors for deliberation and shared deliberation: Understanding planning in young adults transitioning from out-of-home care, Qualitative Social Work, 19, (5-6), 1130-1146. Appleton, P., Hung, I., & Barratt, C. (2021) Internal conversations, self-reliance and social support in emerging adults transitioning from out-of-home care: An interpretative phenomenological study. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26(3), 882-893. In addition to the Essex University papers above, there is a recent Open Access paper, with my colleague Dr Elaine Matchett of Coventry University, focusing on educational contexts of reflexivity for care-leavers, published in a British Educational Research Journal Special Section theorising educational engagement, transitions and outcomes for care-experienced people: Matchett, Elaine & Appleton, P. (2024) "‘I make a lot of the choices myself – I think I’ve taught myself that through the imbalance of support’: the internal conversations, reflexivity, and post-school educational achievement of care-experienced young people. British Educational Research Journal, 50, 2, 529-544. ------------- After studying psychology, zoology and philosophy at Durham University, Peter trained in clinical psychology at Glasgow University in the early 1970s, subsequently working as a clinical psychologist in multidisciplinary NHS paediatric and child and adolescent mental health services (1973-2006: Oxford, Norwich, North-East Wales, Cambridge, Bedford). In parallel with clinical work, he has worked as a university researcher and teacher (1995-present: Bangor, Cambridge, Essex). Peter’s PhD training, at Liverpool University's Department of Public Health and Policy, in the early 1990s, was in behavioural and social epidemiology (supervisor: Professor Peter Pharoah). More recently, qualitative research ideas and methods, especially those based on intensive individual interviews and analysis, have been a primary focus. For all publications please see Google Scholar.

Qualifications

• PhD Liverpool University,

• BSc Durham University,

• MSc University of Glasgow,

• MSc University of Strathclyde,

Appointments

University of Essex

• Visiitng Fellow, School of Health and Social Care, Essex University (1/1/2020 - present)

• Honorary Senior Lecturer, Clinical Psychology, Health and Social Care, Essex University (1/1/2010 - 1/1/2019)

Other academic

• Affiliated Lecturer, Psychiatry, Cambridge University (2000 - 2006)

• Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology, Bangor University (1995 - 2000)