Professor Sara Owen
Pro Vice Chancellor/Head of College of Social Science
Qualifications
PhD, BA, BEd, RMN, SRN, RNT
Professional background
Sara first trained as a general nurse at Guy’s Hospital, London before going on to work in palliative care at St. Christopher’s hospice, London and in oncology at the Royal Marsden hospital, London. She then trained as a mental health nurse at the Maudsley/Bethlem Hospitals, London and worked first as a staff nurse and then as a charge nurse on one of the acute in-patient wards for five years.
Sara has two undergraduate degrees, one in Applied Social Sciences and one in Nursing Education. She obtained her PhD from the University of Nottingham; a pluralistic evaluation of services for women with serious and enduring mental health problems. Sara’s first post in Higher Education was at De Montfort University. This was followed by posts as lecturer, research fellow, senior lecturer, and reader in mental health at theUniversity of Nottingham.
Honorary positions
Adjunct Professor, Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland
Senior Fellow of the Institute of Mental Health, Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust
Research interests
Sara’s programme of research focuses on four areas:
- Women and mental health (evaluations of services for women with mental health problems, physical health needs of women with mental health problems, women in custody, exercise and depression).
- Evaluation of education and training in mental health (adapting the National Continuous Quality Improvement Tool for CAMH education and training, evaluation of personality disorder training).
- Mental health workforce issues (recruitment of mental health professionals, mapping of education and training, clinical activity of mental health lecturers).
- Learning disabilities (education of learning disability nurses, evidence based interventions for challenging behaviour, employment of people with learning disabilities).
Selected publications (2001-present)
Owen, S. & Khalil, E. (2007) Addressing diversity in mental health care: a review of guidance documents. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 44, 467-478
Owen, S. & Standen, P. (2007) Attracting and retaining learning disability student nurses. Journal of Learning Disabilities (In press)
Masterson, S. & Owen, S. (2006) Mental health service user’s social and individual empowerment: using theories of power to elucidate far-reaching strategies. Journal of Mental Health, 15, 1, 19-34
Owen, S. (2006) Working with Women with Mental Health Problems. In/ Callaghan,P. (Ed) Oxford Book of Mental Health Nursing.OxfordUniversity Press,Oxford
Owen, S. & Ferguson, K. (2006) The Role and Function of Contemporary Mental Health Education. In/ Dooher,J. (Ed) New Ways of Working in Mental Health. Quay Books, London
Greatbatch, D., Lewis, P., Owen, S., Tolley, H. & Wilmut, J. (2006) Evaluation of the Personality Disorder Training Initiative. Final academic report to the Department of Health from the Centre for Developing and Evaluating Lifelong Learning,School of Education, University of Nottingham
Callaghan, P. & Owen, S. (2005) Invited Editorial. Psychiatric and mental health nursing: past, present and future. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 12, 639-641
Owen, S.,Ferguson,K. & Baguley,I. (2005) The clinical activity of mental health nurse lecturers. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 12, 310-316
Owen, S.,Ferguson, K. & Baguley, I. (2005) The clinical activity of mental health lecturers in higher education institutions. Mental Health Practice, 8, 9, 40-45
Hewitt, H., Owen, S., Avis, M., Betts, A. & Munir, F. (2005) The world of work. Learning Disability Practice, 8, 7, 28-36
Owen, S., Ferguson, K., Beswick, S. & Baguley, I. (2004) Time to Act: Choosing to Work in Mental Health: The Recruitment of Health and Social Care Professionals. Final academic report submitted to the Mental Health Care Group Workforce Team, Department of Health
Owen, S. (2004) Methodological approach and implications for practice. Invited commentary on ‘Analysis of the moral habitability of the nursing work environment’. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 47, 4, 366-367
Owen, S. & Khalil, E. (2004) Are we ready to implement the women’s mental health strategy? Mental Health Practice, 7, 6, 10-11
Owen, S., Avis, M. & Khalil, E. (2004) A Scoping Exercise for a Health Strategy for Women in Custody inEngland andWales. Final academic report submitted to the HM Prison Service, Department of Health
Stevenson, E., Jones, C., Mallon, S., Milburn, C. & Owen, S. (2003) An evaluation of a social network group for women with enduring mental health problems and its impact on motivation and activity levels. Mental Health Occupational Therapy, 8, 3, 93-95
Wright, N. & Owen, S. (2003) Are acute inpatient mental health wards an appropriate treatment setting for people with anorexia nervosa? Mental Health Practice, 7, 2, 18-21
Owen, S., Jones, C., Mallon, S., Milburn, C. & Stevenson, E. (2003) A women’s network. Mental Health Practice, 6, 8, 12-17
Owen,S., Hewitt,H., Avis,A., Betts,A., Munir,F. & Fitzpatrick,K. (2003) The Impact of Joint Investment Plans on Welfare to Work Schemes for People with Learning Disabilities. Final academic report submitted to the Barrow Cadbury Charitable Trust.
Ferguson, K., Owen, S. & Baguley, I. (2003) The Clinical Activity of Mental Health Lecturers in Higher Education Institutions. Final academic report submitted to the Mental Health Care Group Workforce Team, Department of Health
Owen, S. & Maslin-Prothero, S. (2001) Enhancing your clinical links and credibility. Nurse Education in Practice, 1, 189-195
Owen, S. (2001) The practical, methodological and ethical dilemmas of conducting focus groups with vulnerable clients. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36, 5, 652-658
Wright, N. & Owen, S. (2001) Feminist conceptualisation of women’s madness: a review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 36, 143-150
Owen, S. & Milburn, C. (2001) Implementing research findings into practice: improving and developing services for women with serious and enduring mental health problems. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 8, 221-231
Owen, S., Wheway, J. & Anderson, M. (2001) The use of a journal club and clinical seminars on a four year undergraduate, pre-registration mental health nursing degree. Nurse Education Today, 21, 297-303
Owen, S. & Maslin-Prothero, S.E. (2001) Developing your research profile. Nurse Education in Practice, 1, 5-11
Research grants (2001-present)
2007 Nursing & Midwifery Planning developmentUnit,Ireland(€38,510) Evaluation of the PG Dip/MSc, Waterford Institute,Ireland. (Investigators: Owen, Wells, Cleary)
2006 Department of Health (£35,000) Development of a National Continuous Quality Improvement Tool for CAMHS education and training programmes. (Investigators: Owen, Gale, Baguley, Brooker, Curran & Rushforth).
2005 The Burdett Trust for Nursing (£15,037) Meeting the health care needs of adults with serious and enduring mental health problems. (Investigators: Owen and Khalil).
2004 Department of Health (£200,000) National evaluation of personality disorder training (Investigators: Murphy, Greatbatch, Owen, Tolley)
2004 HM Prison Service/Department of Health (£9,965) A scoping exercise for women in custody inEnglandandWales(Investigators: Owen, Avis and Khalil)
2004 NottinghamUniversityResearch Committee (£7,800). To fund six month sabbatical, Feb-July 2005. (Investigator: Owen)
2004 Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (£5,000) To set up a Managed Innovations Network: Services for women with mental health problems. (Investigators: Milburn, Owen and Jaycock)
2003 Department of Health/Mental Health Care Group Workforce Team (£60,000) The recruitment of NHS and social care mental health staff (Investigators: Owen,Ferguson, Beswick and Baguley)
2003 Department of Health/Mental Health Care Group Workforce Team (£2,000) A review of the national mental health mapping of education and training project (Investigators: Owen,Ferguson, Baguley and Knight)
2003 Co-operative action (£50,000) An evaluation of co-operative employment programmes for people with enduring mental health problems and their impact on the use of health and social services (Investigators: Betts, Avis, Hewitt, Owen and Munir)
2002 Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust (£16,974) Services for women in the Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust (Investigators: Owen and Khalil)
2002 Department of Health/Mental Health Care Group Workforce Team (£16,000) The clinical activity of mental health lecturers in Higher Education Institutions (Investigators: Owen,Fergusonand Baguley)
2002 The Barrow Cadbury Trust (£13, 594) The impact of Joint Investment Plans on welfare to work schemes for people with learning disabilities (Investigators: Owen, Avis, Betts, Hewitt, Munir)
