Gail Mountain DipCOT, MPhil, PHD

Professor of Health Services Research (assisted living research)

Address:
ScHARR,
University of Sheffield,
Regent Court,
30 Regent Street,
Sheffield,
S1 4DA

Tel: +44 (0) 114 222 2982
Fax: +44 (0) 114 272 4095 (Not confidential)
E-mail: g.a.mountain@sheffield.ac.uk
Room: 1.06, First Floor, The Innovation Centre

Biography

I am Professor of Health Services Research (assisted living research) within the Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Group. I also have an honorary chair in Occupational Therapy research at Sheffield Hallam university and research associate in the Lab4living design and health collaboration (wwwlab4living.org).

I am the Director of the EPSRC funded SMART Consortium (www.thesmartconsortium.org) and Principle Director of the KT-EQUAL Consortium (www.equal.ac.uk) which is engaged in transfer of knowledge out of research to benefit older and disabled people. I also lead randomised controlled trials which are looking at the effectiveness of specific interventions which aim to promote well being in later life.

I worked as an occupational therapist for over 13 years before commencing a research career at the University of Leeds. I was awarded a Master of Philosophy degree in social psychology in 1990. A three year return to the health service in 1991 was followed by employment as a researcher at the Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds when I also achieved a Doctorate. I was then employed as the first Research and Development officer at the College of Occupational Therapists, UK. In 2001 I moved to Sheffield Hallam University as Head of Research in the School of Health and Social Care; becoming the Director of the newly created Centre for Health and Social Care Research in 2003. The most recent career move was in June 2009 when I moved to the University of Sheffield.

Research Interests

My research interests are focussed upon improving the quality of life of older people through provision of appropriate interventions, good design and by facilitating participation. I am particularly interested in improving the lived experiences of people at all stages of the dementia trajectory.

Teaching Interests

My main teaching involvement is with research students. I am currently supervising one student completing his Doctorate at Sheffield Hallam University and have two new students at ScHARR.

I am a co-applicant on the Mental Health and Ageing Studentship Research: White Rose Initiative (MARWEN) project and supervise one of the network students. I am also the lead for the PIPIN (promoting independence through personalised interactive technologies) studentship network funded through the Digital World initiative at the University of Sheffield; http//pipin.group.shef.ac.uk/

Professional Activities

I am a member of the College of Occupational Therapists and honorary member of the Specialist Section for Older People. I also have membership of the Society for Research into Rehabilitation, the British Society of Gerontology and the International Society of Gerontechnology.

Current Projects

• Valuing active life in dementia (VALID). National Institute for Health Research Programme Grant: £2,300,000 (Co-Investigator). This project will commence in 2012. It is concerned with the transferability of a well reported Dutch occupational therapy intervention into a UK context and the clinical and cost effectiveness of delivery.
• Lifestyle Matters: Randomised controlled trial. MRC Lifelong Health and Wellbeing: £1,131,276.80 (Principal Investigator). The Lifestyle Matters project commenced in 2011 with duration of over four years. Project partners are at Bangor University. The aim is to examine the impact of the Lifestyle Matters intervention upon the mental well being of volunteer participants aged 65 years and over six months after cessation of delivery and two years later.
• Putting Life in Years (PLINY). Randomised controlled trial of telephone friendship groups for people aged 75 years and over. National Institute for Health Research Public Health Board: £813,000.00 (Principal Investigator). This three year project started in 2011. It involves examining the benefits of telephone conferencing with older people with the intervention being delivered through the charitable sector. Our third sector partners AgeUK National, AgeUK Sheffield and the Community Network are working alongside the research team to introduce and deliver this intervention.
• The Script project; (supervised care and rehabilitation involving personal telerobotics). EU STREP: 3,311,998 euro (Co-Investigator). The project is being led by University of Hertfordshire and also includes partners in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. The aim is to develop and test two robotic systems to facilitate in-home upper limb rehabilitation following stroke.
• Overcoming barriers to mainstreaming Assisted Living Technologies ESRC and TSB ALIP programme: £1,800,000 (Co-Investigator). My role is to work with commissioners, health care practitioners, providers, end users of service and their carers to understand barriers to adoption and introduce and evaluate interventions to try and overcome them.
• Richard project: regional ICT based clusters for healthcare applications and R&D integration. EU FP7: 2,749,999.68 euro (Named Collaborator). This project with partners in Italy and Poland involves mapping Telehealth / Telecare initiatives and identifying future research agendas.
• K-T Equal: Bringing ageing and disability research into practice. EPSRC: 1,833,000 (Principle Director). The Consortium is working to ensure that the products from research on ageing are implemented in practice and also that the views of older people are incorporated into new research agendas The Consortium has a membership of around 3,000 individuals and organisations. www.equal.ac.uk.
• Technologies for management of long term conditions – fitness for purpose, evidence and potential for the future. National Institute for Health Research , South Yorkshire Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care; £1,900,000 (Co-theme lead with Professor Mark Hawley). This programme of translational research involves research and implementation themes spanning topics concerned with people with long term conditions. The technology theme (TaCT) is exploring new innovations as well as the effectiveness of established technologies in practice. http://clahrc-sy.nihr.ac.uk/theme-tact-introduction.html
• South Yorkshire Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care; Technologies for management of long term conditions – fitness for purpose, evidence and potential for the future. NIHR: £1,900,000 (Co-theme lead with Professor Mark Hawley). This programme of translational research involves research and implementation themes spanning topics concerned with people with long term conditions. The technology theme (TaCT) is exploring new innovations as well as the effectiveness of established technologies in practice. http://clahrc-sy.nihr.ac.uk/theme-tact-introduction.html
• The Future Bathroom: a study of design issues for people with age related disability. EPSRC: £450,000 (Co Investigator). This project is being led by the Design Research Centre, Sheffield HallamUniversity and has involved older people as co-researchers. It has resulted in a number of innovative prototypes that are now under evaluation. http://www.lab4living.org.uk/future-bathroom.
• SMART2: self management assisted by rehabilitation and telecare technologies. EPSRC EQUAL5: £2,300,000 (Consortium Director). The SMART2 project is concerned with integrating and developing commonly encountered technologies into a common, intelligent platform to assist people with stroke, congestive heart failure and chronic pain to self manage. www.thesmartconsortium.org.

Key Publications

• Mountain G & Craig CL (2012) What should be in a self management programme for people with early stage dementia? Aging and Mental Health. Online 24 Feb DOI:10.1080/13607863.2011.651430
• Mountain G & Craig C (2010) Recounting the lived experience of the Lifestyle Matters programme. Occupational Therapy International. Online 9 DEC 2010 DOI: 10.1002/oti.309.
• Mountain G, Mawson S, Ware T, Eccleston C, Black N, Harris N & Hu, H (2010) Exploring the usability of a prototype technology for upper limb rehabilitation following stroke. Journal of Engineering Design, 21(Issues 2&3), 223-236.
• Rosser BA, Vowles KE, Keogh E, Eccleston C, Mountain GA (2009) Technologically-assisted behaviour change: a systematic review of studies of novel technologies for the management of chronic illness. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare. 15(7):327-338.
• Moniz-Cook E, Vernooij-Dassen M, Woods R, Verhey F, Chattat R, De Vught M, Mountain G, Lavalle S, Droes R & Orrell M (2008) A European Consensus on outcome measures for psychosocial measures for psychosocial intervention research in dementia care. Aging and Mental Health, 12:1, 14-29
• Mountain G (2006) Self management and Dementia: an exploration of concepts and evidence Dementia: The International Journal of Social Research and Practice 5(3), 429 – 447
• Mountain G & Pighills A (2003) Pre discharge visits with older people: time to review practice. Health and Social Care in the Community, 11(20), 146-154.
• Bowie P & Mountain G (1997) The relationship between patient behaviour and environmental quality for the dementing. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 12, 717-723.
• Full list of publications

Section

Gail Mountain is based within the Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Group, Health Services Research Section.