Dr Rabeeah Aslam

(she/her)

MBBS MSc

I was also a Research consultant on a project where I am developing continuous professional development modules on Suicide and Self-Harm in Kenya.

I was also the Research Fellow on the UPSIDES (Using Peer Support In Developing Empowering Mental Health Services) project. This project also involves multiple sites and stakeholders across five countries. 

I was also a co-applicant and lead on evidence synthesis on an NIHR-funded feasibility and pilot study for a psychosocial intervention delivered by lay workers for asylum seekers and refugees. This study aims to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention programme designed to reduce emotional distress and health inequalities and improve functional ability and well-being among asylum seekers and refugees. I managed four researchers in this review. We are evaluating Project Management Plus (PM+), a psychosocial intervention the World Health Organization recommended for adults impaired by distress in communities exposed to adversity. PM+ provides clients with skills in managing practical problems and mental health problems.

I have held previous research roles, which directly contributed to UK mental health policy change. For example, as a researcher at the London School of Economics, I undertook the economic evaluation of the UK mental health policy for alcohol addiction in primary care. Furthermore, I was co-author of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Policy Briefing on the Parity of Esteem between mental and physical health services.

I was also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, in a collaborative NIHR-HTA funded systematic review with the University of Warwick, London School of Economics, De Montfort University and the Afiya Trust. The project (THERACOM) was a systematic review of interventions to improve therapeutic communication between black and minority ethnicity patients receiving specialist psychiatric care and professionals who deliver that care. This research highlighted the importance of empowerment and motivational interviews as essential elements of the therapeutic transaction.

2. Public Health

I am the study manager for the Development of an Emergency Department Violence Intervention Programme Evaluation (EDVIPE), which is evaluating the two Violence Prevention Teams in Emergency departments using anonymised linked data in a controlled longitudinal natural experiment. 

I was Senior Research Fellow at the Liverpool Reviews and Implementation Group (LRiG). I have led teams in conducting systematic reviews where all forms of data are considered for use in the synthesis of evidence, and application of the full range of synthesis methods is encouraged (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, realist). I have also been part of conducting clinical and cost-effectiveness reviews of new and existing health technologies. These Technology Assessment Reviews can take the form of either multiple technology assessments or single technology assessment reports. The team also conducts systematic reviews where all forms of data are considered for use in the synthesis of evidence, and application of the full range of synthesis methods is encouraged (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, realist).

This research is commissioned primarily by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme on behalf of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

I was also the lead reviewer for INTERUPT. This was a methodologically innovative review which sought to use different methods of synthesis, meta-analysis, subgroup analyses, realist synthesis and thematic analysis to understand the a)who is at greater risk of repeat unintended pregnancies amongst young mothers? b) which interventions are effective and cost-effective, how do they work, in what setting, and for whom? c) what are the barriers and facilitators to intervention uptake?

One of the critical components of these projects is organizing and conducting the process of stakeholder engagement from expert panels and service user groups in the review. It involved communicating specialist material to different audiences, gauging their reactions and thoughts, and assessing the usefulness of different data types. For THERACOM, there was considerable focus on patients’ experiences of health and illness. The process also highlighted a significant gap between knowledge production and implementation for evidence-based medicine, the voice of the population base for which the interventions are being sought.

C) Publications

Published peer-reviewed papers and reports

1. Aslam RW., Snooks, H., Porter. A, Khanom, K., Cole, R., Edwards. E., Evans, BA., Fothergill, R., Gripper, P., John, A., Petterson, R.,  Tee, A., Sewell B., Philips, CJ., Rees, N., Scott, J., Watkins, A. (2022)  STRategies to manage Emergency ambulance Telephone Callers with sustained High needs: an Evaluation using linked Data (STRETCHED) – a study protocol. BMJ Open 2022;12:e053123. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053123

2. Nixdorf, R.,  Nugent, L., Aslam, RW., Barber,S., Charles, A.,  Meir, LG.,  Grayzman, A., Hiltensperger, R., Kalha, J., Korde, P.,l Mtei, R., Niwemuhwezi, J., Ramesh, M., Ryan, G.,  Slade,M., Wenzel, L., &  Mahlke, C. (2022) A multi-national peer support intervention: the UPSIDES pilot phase, Advances in Mental Health, DOI: 10.1080/18387357.2021.2020140

3. Rawlinson, R., Aslam, R.W., Burnside, G. et al. Lay-therapist-delivered, low-intensity, psychosocial intervention for refugees and asylum seekers (PROSPER): protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial. Trials 21, 367 (2020)

4. Katharine Abba, Rabeea’h Aslam, Keith Bodger (2020) How does current health information technology impact on patients and staff within urgent hospital care pathways? End of Project report, Connected Health Cities, Department of Health
https://connectedhealthcities.github.io/assets/north-west-coast/Section%204.10.1_Qualitative%20Pathways%20Research%20Report.pdf

5. Aslam RW, Hendry M, Booth A, et al. Intervention Now to Eliminate Repeat Unintended Pregnancy in Teenagers (INTERUPT): a systematic review of intervention effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, and qualitative and realist synthesis of implementation factors and user engagement. BMC Medicine. 2017
6. Aslam RW, Bates V, Dundar Y, Hounsome J, Richardson M, Krishan A, Dickson R, Boland A, Fisher J, Robinson L, Sikdar S. A systematic review of the diagnostic accuracy of automated tests for cognitive impairment. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2018 Apr;33(4):561-575. doi: 10.1002/gps.4852. Epub 2018 Jan 22. 

7. Aslam RW, Bates V, Dundar Y, Hounsome J, Richardson M, Krishan K, Dickson R, Angela Boland A, Eleanor Kotas E, Joanne Fisher J, Sudip Sikdar S, Louise Robinson L.  Automated tests for diagnosing and monitoring cognitive impairment: a diagnostic accuracy review. Health Technol Assess. 2016 Oct; 20(77): 1–74

8. Greenhalgh, J, Mahon, J, Boland, A, Beale, S, Krishan, A, Abdulla, A, Aslam, R, Kotas, E, Banks, L and Green, John (2016) Pembrolizumab for untreated PD-L1 positive metastatic non-small cell lung cancer [ID990]: A Single Technology Appraisal. LRiG, University of Liverpool, 2016

9. Greenhalgh, J, Aslam, RW, Mahon, J, Krishan, A, Boland, A, Beale, S, Kotas, E, Banks, L and Green, John (2016) Osimertinib for treating locally advanced or metastatic EGFR and T790M mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer [ID874]: A Single Technology Appraisal. LRiG, University of Liverpool, 2016 

10. Charles JM, Rycroft-Malone J, Aslam R, Hendry M, Pasterfield D, Whitaker R. Reducing repeat pregnancies in adolescence: applying realist principles as part of a mixed-methods systematic review to explore what works, for whom, how and under what circumstances. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2016 Sep 20;16:271

11. Greenhalgh J, Mahon J, Richardson M, Krishan A, Aslam RW, Beale S, Boland A, Stainthorpe A, Bagust A, Kotas E, Banks L, Payne E. Pembrolizumab for treating advanced melanoma previously untreated with ipilimumab: A Single Technology Appraisal. LRiG, University of Liverpool, 2015

12. Whitaker R, Hendry M, Aslam R, Booth A, Carter B, Charles JM, Craine N, Tudor-Edwards R, Noyes J, Ntambwe LI, Pasterfield D, Rycroft-Malone J, Williams N. Intervention Now to Eliminate Repeat Unintended Pregnancy in Teenagers (INTERUPT): A systematic review of intervention effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, qualitative and realist synthesis of implementation factors and user engagement. Health Technology Assessment Volume: 20, Issue:16, March 2016

13. Bhui, K; Aslam, RW; Palinski, A; McCabe, R; Johnson, M. Weich; S. Singh, SP; Knapp, M; Vittoria, A; Szczepura, A. Interventions designed to improve therapeutic communications between black and minority ethnic people and professionals working in psychiatric services: a systematic review of the evidence for their effectiveness. Health Technology Assessment Volume: 19, Issue:31, April 2015

14. Bhui, K; Aslam, RW; Palinski, A; McCabe, R; Johnson, M. Weich; S. Singh, SP; Knapp, M; Vittoria, A; Szczepura, A. Interventions to improve therapeutic communications between Black and minority ethnic patients and professionals in psychiatric services: systematic review. British Journal of Psychiatry Aug 2015, 207 (2) 95-103

15. Aslam RW, Bhui K. Parity of Esteem as a guiding principle for commissioning, service provision and laws related to health care: what do we know. Ethnicity and Health, Volume 17, Issue 1-2, 2012

16. Aslam R, Knapp M, Parsonage M. Screening and brief intervention in primary care for alcohol misuse’, in Martin Knapp, David McDaid and Michael Parsonage (editors) Mental Health Promotion and Prevention: the Economic Case, 2010.  PSSRU, LSE

Accepted for publication

Dowrick C., Rosala-Hallas, A., Rawlinson, R., Khan, N., Eira Winrow, E., Chiumento, A,. Burnside, G., Aslam RW ., Billow, L., Eriksson-Lee, M, Lawrence, D., McCluskey, R., MacKinnon, A., Moitt, T., Orton, L., Roberts, E, Atif Rahman, A.,Smith, G., Edwards, RT., Uwamaliya, P., Ross White, R. Feasibility study and pilot trial of an evidence-based low intensity psychosocial intervention delivered by lay therapists for asylum seekers and refugees (PROSPER), NIHR report