Simon Murphy
Biographic Data
| ID | 3799645 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Simon Murphy |
| GIVEN NAMES | Simon |
| FAMILY NAME | Murphy |
| SIGNATURE | MURPHY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cardiff University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3589-3681 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 64 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 142 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 64 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Piloting a data dashboard to support data-informed health promotion in secondary schools: Qualitative analysis of stakeholder interviews
The Dashboard presents an opportunity for data-informed health and well-being practice and could also support schools to meet education system requirements, providing school staff receive appropriate training. This paper offers novel practical, policy-relevant insights on the interaction of digital dashboards with school systems, capacity constraints, and professional learning needs and valuable insights for public health systems seeking to suppo…
Exploring the use of interactive data dashboards as a tool to support a data‐driven approach to whole‐school health improvement: Case studies from the Datamind project in Wales and Scotland
School is an important setting for supporting young people's healthy development and positive mental wellbeing. Recent curriculum changes in Scotland and Wales reflect this, adopting a whole‐school approach to health and wellbeing as a central pedagogical focus and responsibility of all working in the sector. Alongside education system reform, there is a growing recognition of the need for health improvement decision‐making in schools to take a d…
Trends in adolescent emotional problems in Wales between 2013 and 2019: The contribution of peer relationships
BACKGROUND: Epidemiological evidence shows a substantial increase in adolescent emotional problems in many countries, but reasons for this increase remain poorly understood. We tested change in emotional problems in a national sample of young people in Wales in 2013, 2017 and 2019 using identical symptom screens, and examined whether trends were accounted for by changes in youth friendship quality and bullying. METHODS: The present study of 230,7…
Understanding school-based counselling services in complex systems: Developing a whole system approach
Objectives: Community sites, including schools, are important settings for interventions to promote children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. A central provision to support mental health in the UK is school- and community-based counselling services. However, the evidence-base for school counselling services is limited by weak evaluation designs, lack of understanding of different counselling approaches in use, and a failure to conc…
Perceived impacts of a school-based growth mindset programme ‘Mindset Teams’ in Scotland: A qualitative study
Findings provide support for Mindset programmes focusing on the development of teachers' mindsets, highlighting the resultant perceived impacts this can have on both teachers and pupils alike. Future research should seek to capture health and wellbeing measures alongside attainment data to fully explore programme impacts
Self‐harm, in‐person bullying and cyberbullying in secondary school‐aged children: A data linkage study in Wales
INTRODUCTION: Although the evidence base on bullying victimization and self-harm in young people has been growing, most studies were cross-sectional, relied on self-reported non-validated measures of self-harm, and did not separate effects of in-person and cyberbullying. This study aimed to assess associations of self-harm following in-person bullying at school and cyberbullying victimization controlling for covariates. METHODS: School survey dat…
School health and wellbeing and national education system reform: A qualitative study
The education systems of the four UK nations are diverging, and the education system in Wales is undergoing major reform with substantially increased emphasis on health and wellbeing. Understanding the implementation of major policy and system reforms requires an understanding of system histories and starting points. This study aimed to explore the perceived roles of schools in contemporary society, and how this role has evolved over time; the ai…
Mental health and life satisfaction among 10–11-year-olds in Wales, before and one year after onset of the Covid-19 pandemic
Supporting children's emotional recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is a public health priority requiring urgent and effective action at multiple levels of society. Maintaining connectedness to school through the pandemic may have played a role in preventing a steeper increase in child mental health difficulties
Zappa, Francesco
Developing a whole-school mental health and wellbeing intervention through pragmatic formative process evaluation: A case-study of innovative local practice within The School Health Research network
Formative, pragmatic process evaluations can support researchers, policy-makers and practitioners in developing robust scientific evidence-bases for acceptable and feasible local innovations that do not already have a clear evidence base. The case of a whole-school restorative approach provides a case example of how such an evaluation may be undertaken
Measurement invariance of the short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and latent mean differences (SWEMWBS) in young people by current care status
Findings suggest that SWEMWBS is a valid scale for measuring differences in mental wellbeing for young people in care similar to the population
Testing the “Zero‐Sum Game” Hypothesis: An Examination of School Health Policies and Practices and Inequalities in Educational Outcomes
BACKGROUND: Health and education are intrinsically linked, while both are significantly patterned by socioeconomic status throughout the life course. Nevertheless, the impact of promoting health via schools on education is seen by some as a "zero-sum game"; ie, focusing resources on health improvement activity distracts schools from their core business of educating pupils, potentially compromising educational attainment. There is emerging evidenc…
Socioeconomic status, mental wellbeing and transition to secondary school: Analysis of the School Health Research Network/Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children survey in Wales
Young people's wellbeing is often lowest where they assume a relatively low position within their school's socioeconomic hierarchy, for example, among poorer children attending more affluent schools. Transition to secondary school is a period during which young people typically enter an environment which is more socioeconomically diverse than their primary school. Young people joining a school with a higher socioeconomic status intake relative to…
Is teachers’ mental health and wellbeing associated with students’ mental health and wellbeing?
From Complex Interventions to Complex Systems: Using Social Network Analysis to Understand School Engagement with Health and Wellbeing
Challenges in changing school system functioning to orient them towards health are commonly underestimated. Understanding the social interactions of school staff from a complex systems perspective may provide valuable insight into how system dynamics may impede or facilitate the promotion of health and wellbeing. Ego social network analysis was employed with wellbeing leads within four diverse case study schools to identify variability in embedde…
Socio-Economic Inequalities in Adolescent Summer Holiday Experiences, and Mental Wellbeing on Return to School: Analysis of the School Health Research Network/Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children …
The socioeconomic inequalities found in child and adolescent mental wellbeing are increasingly acknowledged. Although interventions increasingly focus on school holidays as a critical period for intervention to reduce inequalities, no studies have modelled the role of summer holiday experiences in explaining socioeconomic inequalities in wellbeing. For this study, we analysed survey data of 103,971 adolescents from 193 secondary schools in Wales,…
When and how do ‘effective’ interventions need to be adapted and/or re-evaluated in new contexts? The need for guidance
First paragraph: Rational models of evidence-informed policy have historically centred on an assumption that it is possible to identify "effective" health interventions, before recommending wider implementation. However, for population health interventions (which we define as inclusive of public health and health services), transferability to new contexts is often uncertain [1]. Some interventions have demonstrated limited effectiveness, or even …
School, Peer and Family Relationships and Adolescent Substance Use, Subjective Wellbeing and Mental Health Symptoms in Wales: A Cross Sectional Study
Positive relationships with family, friends and school staff are consistently linked with health and wellbeing during adolescence, though fewer studies explore how these micro-systems interact to influence adolescent health. This study tests the independent and interacting roles of family, peer and school relationships in predicting substance use, subjective wellbeing and mental health symptoms among 11-16 year olds in Wales. It presents cross-se…
From complex social interventions to interventions in complex social systems: Future directions and unresolved questions for intervention development and evaluation
Complex systems approaches to social intervention research are increasingly advocated. However, there have been few attempts to consider how models of intervention science, such as the UK's Medical Research Council complex interventions framework, might be reframed through a complex systems lens. This article identifies some key areas in which this framework might be reconceptualized, and a number of priority areas where further development is ne…
Sexual health outcomes for young people in state care: Cross-sectional analysis of a national survey and views of social care professionals in Wales
Exploratory studies to inform full-scale evaluations of complex public health interventions: The need for guidance
Editorial published in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health available open access at http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2017-210414
Controlling food, controlling relationships: Exploring the Meanings and Dynamics of Family Food Practices Through the Diary-Interview Approach
Potential merits of a social practice perspective for examining the meanings and dynamics of family food include moving beyond individual behaviour, and exploring how practices emerge, develop and change. However, researchers have struggled to encourage reflection on mundane practices, and how to understand associated meanings. Drawing on a study of families in South Wales, this article reflects on the value of the diary-interview approach in add…
An application of Extended Normalisation Process Theory in a randomised controlled trial of a complex social intervention: Process evaluation of the Strengthening Families Programme (10–14) in Wales, …
Extended Normalisation Process Theory provided a useful framework for assessing implementation and explaining variation by examining intervention-context interactions. Findings highlight the need for process evaluations to consider both the structural and process components of implementation to explain whether programme activities are delivered as intended and why
Development of a framework for the co-production and prototyping of public health interventions
ISRCTN14415936 , registered retrospectively on 05 November 2014
School composition, school culture and socioeconomic inequalities in young people's health: Multi‐level analysis of the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children ( HBSC ) survey in Wales
Health inequalities emerge during childhood and youth, before widening in adulthood. Theorising, testing and interrupting the mechanisms through which inequalities are perpetuated and sustained is vital. Schools are viewed as settings through which inequality in young people's health may be addressed, but few studies examine the social processes via which institutional structures reproduce or mitigate health inequalities. Informed by Markham and …
Individualisation and inequalities in health: A Qualitative Study of Class Identity and Health
From complex social interventions to interventions in complex social systems: Future directions and unresolved questions for intervention development and evaluation
Complex systems approaches to social intervention research are increasingly advocated. However, there have been few attempts to consider how models of intervention science, such as the UK's Medical Research Council complex interventions framework, might be reframed through a complex systems lens. This article identifies some key areas in which this framework might be reconceptualized, and a number of priority areas where further development is ne…
Realist complex intervention science: Applying realist principles across all phases of the Medical Research Council framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions
The integration of realist evaluation principles within randomised controlled trials ('realist RCTs') enables evaluations of complex interventions to answer questions about what works, for whom and under what circumstances . This allows evaluators to better develop and refine mid-level programme theories. However, this is only one phase in the process of developing and evaluating complex interventions. We describe and exemplify how social scienti…
School, Peer and Family Relationships and Adolescent Substance Use, Subjective Wellbeing and Mental Health Symptoms in Wales: A Cross Sectional Study
Positive relationships with family, friends and school staff are consistently linked with health and wellbeing during adolescence, though fewer studies explore how these micro-systems interact to influence adolescent health. This study tests the independent and interacting roles of family, peer and school relationships in predicting substance use, subjective wellbeing and mental health symptoms among 11-16 year olds in Wales. It presents cross-se…
Health Locus of Control and Health Behaviour
A representative sample of 11,632 people completed a questionnaire measuring health locus of control, health value and a number of health behaviours as part of the 1989 Health in Wales Survey. Measures of smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise and diet were combined to form a health behaviour index, representing key 'lifestyle' indicators. In line with predictions, scores on this measure were positively associated with internal health locus of co…
Feeding strategies used by mothers of 3–5-year-old children
School composition, school culture and socioeconomic inequalities in young people's health: Multi‐level analysis of the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children ( HBSC ) survey in Wales
Health inequalities emerge during childhood and youth, before widening in adulthood. Theorising, testing and interrupting the mechanisms through which inequalities are perpetuated and sustained is vital. Schools are viewed as settings through which inequality in young people's health may be addressed, but few studies examine the social processes via which institutional structures reproduce or mitigate health inequalities. Informed by Markham and …
Health Psychology and Public Health: Theoretical Possibilities
Public health has either implicitly or explicitly drawn upon a range of psychological theories. This paper identifies four areas where the application of such theory could be developed, health communication, environmental initiatives, the negotiation of behaviour and participation and empowerment. Recommendations are made regarding content, sources and recipient characteristics that can be used to develop targeted health communication campaigns. …
Controlling food, controlling relationships: Exploring the Meanings and Dynamics of Family Food Practices Through the Diary-Interview Approach
Potential merits of a social practice perspective for examining the meanings and dynamics of family food include moving beyond individual behaviour, and exploring how practices emerge, develop and change. However, researchers have struggled to encourage reflection on mundane practices, and how to understand associated meanings. Drawing on a study of families in South Wales, this article reflects on the value of the diary-interview approach in add…
Socioeconomic status, mental wellbeing and transition to secondary school: Analysis of the School Health Research Network/Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children survey in Wales
Young people's wellbeing is often lowest where they assume a relatively low position within their school's socioeconomic hierarchy, for example, among poorer children attending more affluent schools. Transition to secondary school is a period during which young people typically enter an environment which is more socioeconomically diverse than their primary school. Young people joining a school with a higher socioeconomic status intake relative to…
The unintended consequences of targeting: Young people's lived experiences of social and emotional learning interventions
In the past twenty years there has been a proliferation of targeted school‐based social and emotional learning ( SEL ) interventions. However, the lived experience of young peoples’ participation is often elided, while the potential for interventions to confer unintended and even adverse effects remains under‐theorised and empirically under‐explored. This paper reports findings from a qualitative case study of students’ participation in a targete…
School health and wellbeing and national education system reform: A qualitative study
The education systems of the four UK nations are diverging, and the education system in Wales is undergoing major reform with substantially increased emphasis on health and wellbeing. Understanding the implementation of major policy and system reforms requires an understanding of system histories and starting points. This study aimed to explore the perceived roles of schools in contemporary society, and how this role has evolved over time; the ai…
Pragmatic, formative process evaluations of complex interventions and why we need more of them
Recently published guidance on process evaluations by the Medical Research Council's (MRC's) Population Health Sciences Research Network (PHSRN) marks a significant advance in the evaluation of complex public health interventions.1 ,2 In presenting programmes as not just a set of mechanisms of change across multiple socioecological domains, but as an interaction of theory, context and implementation, the guidance extends the remit of evaluation a…
An evaluation of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the National Exercise Referral Scheme in Wales, UK: A randomised controlled trial of a public health policy initiative
BACKGROUND: The Wales National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) is a 16-week programme including motivational interviewing, goal setting and relapse prevention. METHOD: A pragmatic randomised controlled trial with nested economic evaluation of 2160 inactive participants with coronary heart disease risk (CHD, 1559, 72%), mild to moderate depression, anxiety or stress (79, 4%) or both (522, 24%) randomised to receive (1) NERS or (2) normal care and …
Maintaining evaluation designs in long term community based health promotion programmes: Heartbeat Wales case study
STUDY OBJECTIVE--To examine the difficulties of developing and maintaining outcome evaluation designs in long term, community based health promotion programmes. DESIGN--Semistructured interviews of health promotion managers. SETTING--Wales and two reference health regions in England. PARTICIPANTS--Nine health promotion managers in Wales and 18 in England. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--Information on selected heart health promotion activity under…
Exploratory studies to inform full-scale evaluations of complex public health interventions: The need for guidance
Editorial published in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health available open access at http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech-2017-210414
When and how do ‘effective’ interventions need to be adapted and/or re-evaluated in new contexts? The need for guidance
First paragraph: Rational models of evidence-informed policy have historically centred on an assumption that it is possible to identify "effective" health interventions, before recommending wider implementation. However, for population health interventions (which we define as inclusive of public health and health services), transferability to new contexts is often uncertain [1]. Some interventions have demonstrated limited effectiveness, or even …
Sexual health outcomes for young people in state care: Cross-sectional analysis of a national survey and views of social care professionals in Wales
Preventing alcohol problems using healthy public policy
This paper, using the Canberra Consensus Statement (WHO, 1988) as a basis, focuses on the role of public policy in minimizing hann from alcohol misuse. The statement identifies three components through which such goals may be achieved demand reduction, supply reduction, and others. The paper firstly examines the usefulness of the document in guiding public policy initiatives. Secondly, we examine some theoretical and practical problems that may a…
Maintaining evaluation designs in long term community based health promotion programmes: Heartbeat Wales case study
STUDY OBJECTIVE--To examine the difficulties of developing and maintaining outcome evaluation designs in long term, community based health promotion programmes. DESIGN--Semistructured interviews of health promotion managers. SETTING--Wales and two reference health regions in England. PARTICIPANTS--Nine health promotion managers in Wales and 18 in England. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--Information on selected heart health promotion activity under…
Health Locus of Control and Health Behaviour
A representative sample of 11,632 people completed a questionnaire measuring health locus of control, health value and a number of health behaviours as part of the 1989 Health in Wales Survey. Measures of smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise and diet were combined to form a health behaviour index, representing key 'lifestyle' indicators. In line with predictions, scores on this measure were positively associated with internal health locus of co…
Just do it: An analysis of accounts of control over health amongst lower socioeconomic status groups
Recent interest in health inequalities research has focused upon psychosocial factors such as a sense of control. Previous work has sought to measure or describe personal beliefs about control over health without addressing the contradictory and rhetorical dimensions of such accounts. These issues are explored through an analysis of interviews with 30 lower socioeconomic status (SES) participants drawn from two qualitative studies of health inequ…
Individualisation and inequalities in health: A Qualitative Study of Class Identity and Health
Health Psychology and Public Health: Theoretical Possibilities
Public health has either implicitly or explicitly drawn upon a range of psychological theories. This paper identifies four areas where the application of such theory could be developed, health communication, environmental initiatives, the negotiation of behaviour and participation and empowerment. Recommendations are made regarding content, sources and recipient characteristics that can be used to develop targeted health communication campaigns. …
Free breakfasts in schools: Design and conduct of a cluster randomised controlled trial of the Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative in Wales [ISRCTN18336527]
An overview of the methods used for the evaluation is presented, providing an example of the feasibility of conducting robust evaluations of policy initiatives using a randomised trial design with nested process evaluation. Details are provided of response rates and the flow of participants. Reflection is offered on methodological issues encountered at various stages through the course of the study, focusing upon issues associated with conducting…
Associations between deprivation, attitudes towards eating breakfast and breakfast eating behaviours in 9–11-year-olds
Objectives To examine school-level relationships between deprivation and breakfast eating behaviours (breakfast skipping and the healthfulness of foods consumed) in 9–11-year-old schoolchildren and to examine whether attitudes towards eating breakfast mediated these relationships. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting One hundred and eleven primary schools in Wales. Subjects Year 5 and 6 pupils within the 111 primary schools. Measures were compl…
Feeding strategies used by mothers of 3–5-year-old children
'If I don't like it then I can choose what I want': Welsh school children's accounts of preference for and control over food choice
The paper draws on qualitative data collected in focus groups with primary school pupils in years three and five (ages 7-11 years), carried out as part of a wider study evaluating the Primary School Free Breakfast Initiative in Wales. A total of 16 focus groups were carried out across eight schools to examine pupil's perceptions of food and food related behaviour. A key finding was the way in which control over choice of food and access to health…
Normative and cognitive correlates of breakfast skipping in 9–11-year-old schoolchildren in Wales
A pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the Welsh National Exercise Referral Scheme: Protocol for trial and integrated economic and process evaluation
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN47680448
The reduction of intoxication and disorder in premises licensed to serve alcohol: An exploratory randomised controlled trial
Medical Research Council (G0701758) to Simon Moore, Simon Murphy, Laurence Moore and Jonathan Shepherd
Feeding strategies used by primary school meal staff. An opportunity for repeated taste exposure
Facilitating adherence to physical activity: Exercise professionals' experiences of the National Exercise Referral Scheme in Wales. a qualitative study
Current Controlled Trials: ISRCTN47680448
Health improvement, nutrition-related behaviour and the role of school meals: The usefulness of a socio-ecological perspective to inform policy design, implementation and evaluation
Schools have the potential to support children's learning of nutrition-related behaviours through their experiences with school food. The transformation of school meal programmes have featured within policies in the UK and the USA. However, such policies are at risk of not meeting their objectives as many children remain unwilling to consume healthier food. Socio-ecological health improvement frameworks emphasise the importance of assessing healt…
Free healthy breakfasts in primary schools: A cluster randomised controlled trial of a policy intervention in Wales, UK
Objective The present study evaluated the impact of a national school programme of universal free healthy breakfast provision in Wales, UK. Design A cluster randomised controlled trial with repeated cross-sectional design and a 12-month follow-up. Primary outcomes were breakfast skipping, breakfast diet and episodic memory. Secondary outcomes were frequency of eating breakfast at home and at school, breakfast attitudes, rest-of-day diet and class…
An exploratory randomised controlled trial of a premises-level intervention to reduce alcohol-related harm including violence in the United Kingdom
UKCRN 7090; ISRCTN: 80875696
An exploratory cluster randomised trial of a university halls of residence based social norms intervention in Wales, UK
ISRCTN: ISRCTN48556384
An evaluation of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of the National Exercise Referral Scheme in Wales, UK: A randomised controlled trial of a public health policy initiative
BACKGROUND: The Wales National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS) is a 16-week programme including motivational interviewing, goal setting and relapse prevention. METHOD: A pragmatic randomised controlled trial with nested economic evaluation of 2160 inactive participants with coronary heart disease risk (CHD, 1559, 72%), mild to moderate depression, anxiety or stress (79, 4%) or both (522, 24%) randomised to receive (1) NERS or (2) normal care and …
Cost-effectiveness of a national exercise referral programme for primary care patients in Wales: Results of a randomised controlled trial
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN47680448
The effects of the school environment on student health: A systematic review of multi-level studies
The WHO Health Promoting School framework for improving the health and well-being of students and their academic achievement
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization's (WHO's) Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework is an holistic, settings-based approach to promoting health and educational attainment in school. The effectiveness of this approach has not been previously rigorously reviewed. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework in improving the health and well-being of students and their academic achievement. SEARCH M…
All-Wales licensed premises intervention (AWLPI): A randomised controlled trial to reduce alcohol-related violence
UKCRN 14077; ISRCTN78924818
Preventing substance misuse: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of the Strengthening Families Programme 10–14 UK (SFP 10–14 UK)
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN63550893
Medicine (48 works) · Psychology (37 works) · Nursing (32 works) · Public health (25 works) · Psychological intervention (22 works) · Environmental health (21 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (14 works) · Health Policy Implementation Science (13 works)