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Research

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People

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Research project

The role of partner support in chronic disease outcomes

close up of two people holding hands in a care setting

Research overview

Patient care and disease management are typically treated as individual concerns rather than as a social process involving interactions between the patient and his or her partner.

Abundant scientific evidence links social context to health inequality and lack of positive social relations with others impacts upon risk of disease, disease management and disease outcomes.

This project offers an exciting opportunity to develop and test a comprehensive account of how partner interactions impact chronic disease, with immediate relevance to care of arthritis patients.

Related papers

Murray, S. L., McNulty, J. K., Xia, J., Lamarche, V. M., Seery, M. D., Ward, D. E., Griffin, D. W., Hicks, L. L., & Jung, H. Y. (2023). Pursuing safety in social connection regulates the risk-regulation, social-safety, and behavioral-immune systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125(3), 519–547. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000420
Orbell, S., Szczepura, A., Weller, D., Gumber, A., & Hagger, M. S. (2017). South Asian ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and psychological mediators of faecal occult blood colorectal screening participation: A prospective test of a process model. Health Psychology, 36(12), 1161–1172. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000525

Researchers

Ovgun Ses

Postgraduate research student

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Dr Veronica Lamarche

Researcher

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Dr Elia Valentini

Researcher

Department of Psychology, University of Essex

Dr Tania Gudu

Consultant Rheumatologist

ESNEFT

Dr Tania Gudu PhD is a Consultant Rheumatologist at ESNEFT who works one day a week at EEPRU collaborating with psychology staff on projects relating to arthritis and chronic pain.