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Anastasia Fadeeva granted NIHR fellowship to study health economics

 

 

Dr Anastasia Fadeeva

 

I have recently started the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Development and Skills Enhancement (DSE) Fellowship. The focus of the DSE post-doctoral funding is to support training and development activities while securing salaried time and providing mentorship opportunities. I chose to apply for this NIHR award to develop my expertise and knowledge in health economics, an increasingly important skill in applied health research. NIHR and other funders often require expertise in this area within grant applications.

I was awarded the NIHR grant for 18 months, covering my protected time and training until the end of 2027. During this period, I will undertake an MSc in Health Economics and Policy at City St George’s University of London and also four placements with the Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Tower Hamlets, Health Economics Analysis and Research (HEART) and Health Economics Policy Lab (HELP) at UCL, the Health Economics Policy Research Unit (HEPRU) at Queen Mary University of London, and the Violence Reduction Academy (VRA).

I will be supported by two brilliant mentors – Dr Victoria Serra-Sastre, Director of the City Health Economics Centre (CHEC) and Reader in Economics at City St George’s and Dr Ceryl Teleri Davies, NIHR Advanced Fellow based at the Centre for Health Economics and Medicines Evaluation (CHME) at Bangor University. Additionally, I am planning to attend two conferences—the Health Economics Study Group (HESG) Annual Meeting and the HDR UK Annual Conference—which will both be covered by the grant.

At the conclusion of the fellowship, I will have acquired new skills and knowledge in health economics, including a strong quantitative component, and developed the methodological expertise required to apply these approaches in my research. Through the placement opportunities, I will gain practical experience and improve my understanding of how practitioners in local authorities and the NHS operate. Engagement with academics, practitioners, policymakers, and local communities will help me to inform and refine my research priorities, while also allowing me to explore opportunities involving stakeholders throughout the research process.

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Anastasia Fadeeva shares thoughts on Data Impact Fellowship placement studying healthy ageing

 

Dr Anastasia Fadeeva

VISION researcher and Data Impact Fellow, Dr Anastasia Fadeeva, has written a personal blog, Reflections from being a Data Impact Fellow: a placement in Japan, about her time in the country visiting universities and discussing healthy ageing.

In the blog, Anastasia reflects on her short-term placement at Chiba University and Kyoto University, meeting fellow researchers interested in population health and a focus on studying the ageing population and promoting healthy ageing.

As a Data Impact Fellow, Anastasia is researching the issues of violence in older age, the long-term impacts of violence on mental health, and the lack of reliable data. The placement to Japan is one component of the fellowship.

For further information, please see VISION member awarded Data Impact Fellow to study violence and mental health in older age to find out more about her fellowship or contact Anastasia at anastasia.fadeeva@citystgeorges.ac.uk

Top photo supplied through Adobe Stock subscription and bottom photo supplied by Dr Anastasia Fadeeva.

VISION member, Prof Mark Bellis, attends WHO European Network on Healthy Ageing

In December 2025, Professor Mark Bellis – a member of VISION and Chair of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Violence Prevention – attended an invite-only meeting of the WHO European Network on Healthy Ageing in The Hague, The Netherlands.

This meeting represented a significant step in joining WHO leads with academic and research partners to support the rollout of the forthcoming WHO European Strategy on Healthy Ageing: Ageing is Living – Promoting a Lifetime of Health and Well-being (2026–2030).

Over the course of one and a half days, participants worked to:

  • Support the development of technical products, toolkits, guidance, and policy briefs to operationalise the Strategy.
  • Identify key research gaps across the four action areas: prevention, transforming health and care systems, creating age-friendly environments, and reimagining ageing.
  • Strengthen collaboration through the Strategy’s five enablers: leadership, investment, innovation, capacity building, and data and evidence.

Professor Bellis will continue to contribute to the implementation of the Strategy by enhancing global, European, and national evidence on abuse and vulnerabilities among older people, and by promoting the importance of a life course approach to prevention.

Conference: The intersection of public health & violence prevention

 

Wednesday 4 February 2026, 10 am – 4:30 pm, Leonardo Hotel, Cardiff, CF10 3UD

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

The UKPRP VISION research consortium and the Violence Prevention team at Public Health Wales are pleased to collaborate on a free, one-day conference, The intersection of public health and violence prevention.

This event will bring together a range of stakeholders working in violence prevention including public health, policing, healthcare, academia, government and the community and voluntary sector. It will showcase professionals from across Wales and beyond who are working at this intersection, with a focus on whole system approaches to violence prevention and the role of public health within this, as well as examining data on violence and its links with health inequalities. Join us for presentations, panel discussions and plenty of opportunities for questions and networking. 

For any questions, please contact VISION_Management_Team@citystgeorges.ac.uk

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

We look forward to seeing you in Cardiff soon! Violence Prevention Team and VISION Consortium

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COFRESTRU AR AGOR NAWR: Y Croestoriad rhwng Iechyd y Cyhoedd ac Atal Trais

Rydym wrth ein bodd yn eich gwahodd i gynhadledd Croestoriad rhwng Iechyd y Cyhoedd ac Atal Trais, a gynhelir ar y cyd gan Gonsortiwm Trais, Iechyd a Chymdeithas (VISION) Partneriaeth Ymchwil Atal y DU a’r Tîm Atal Trais yn Iechyd Cyhoeddus Cymru.

Pryd: Dydd Mercher 4 Chwefror 2026 10:00am – 4:30pm

Ble: Gwesty Leonardo, Caerdydd, CF10 3UD

COFRESTRWCH YMA

Bydd y gynhadledd undydd, rhad ac am ddim hon yn dwyn ynghyd amrywiaeth o randdeiliaid sy’n gweithio ym maes atal trais gan gynnwys iechyd y cyhoedd, plismona, gofal iechyd, y byd academaidd, y llywodraeth a’r sector cymunedol a gwirfoddol. Bydd yn arddangos gweithwyr proffesiynol o bob cwr o Gymru a thu hwnt sy’n gweithio yn y groesffordd hon, gyda ffocws ar ddulliau system gyfan o atal trais a rôl iechyd y cyhoedd yn hyn, yn ogystal ag archwilio data ar drais a’r cysylltiad rhyngddo ag anghydraddoldebau iechyd.

Ymunwch â ni am gyflwyniadau, trafodaethau panel a digon o gyfleoedd ar gyfer gofyn cwestiynau a rhwydweithio.

Edrychwn ymlaen at eich croesawu ar 4 Chwefror. Anfonwch e-bost at phw.violencepreventionteam@wales.nhs.uk os oes gennych gwestiynau.

COFRESTRWCH YMA

Edrychwn ymlaen at eich gweld yng Nghaerdydd yn fuan! Tîm Atal Trais a Chonsortiwm VISION

Conference programme in English and Welsh to download

Intersection of public health and violence prevention_Programme_E and W

Conference breakout session abstracts in English and Welsh to download

Intersection of public health and violence prevention_Abstracts_E and W

Conference bios of the keynote, chairs and presenters in English and Welsh to download

Intersection of public health and violence prevention_Bios_E and W

Call for Abstracts: The intersection of public health and violence prevention

 

Opportunity to present at
‘The Intersection of Public Health and Violence Prevention’ conference in 2026

The call is now closed.

The VISION research consortium and the Violence Prevention Team at Public Health Wales are pleased to collaborate on a free, one-day conference. The theme is the intersection of public health and violence prevention in February 2026.

Bringing together a range of stakeholders working in violence prevention including public health, policing, healthcare, academia, government and the community and voluntary sector, we are keen to showcase academics and public health professionals from Wales and beyond who are working at this intersection.

We are currently designing the agenda and are looking for additional participation along these themes:

  1. Exploring or addressing the structural determinants of violence through a public health lens, with a focus on research, policy or partnerships
  2. Sharing innovative, evidence-based practice by highlighting approaches, cross-sector collaboration, or lessons learned that can inform practice, policy, or future research in violence prevention
  3. Exploring the role of lived experience in research and ethical considerations.

Presenters will have a maximum of 20 minutes to present, including time for questions or discussion. We welcome interactive presentations or workshops.

Presentation summaries must be a maximum of 300 words and are due by 17 December at 5 pm. Please email Word documents and any questions to PHW.Violencepreventionteam@wales.nhs.uk

Registration will be open soon and announced on this webpage, via networks, and on the VISION LinkedIn page.  For any questions about registration, please contact VISION_Management_Team@citystgeorges.ac.uk

How general practice can respond to violence against women and girls

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global violation of human rights that damages health and wellbeing across the life course and across generations. Except in its most obvious manifestations as acute injury or distress, VAWG has been largely hidden from the awareness of health services.

At a UK national policy level, this started to change with mandatory reporting policies on female genital mutilation, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) safeguarding standards and toolkit, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) domestic abuse guidelines. However, evidence-based guidance is not yet systematically implemented in clinical education and practice.

National and local VAWG prevention policies are siloed, despite the overlap of different types of VAWG, often affecting the same families, and often part of intersectional vulnerability, amplifying other sources of inequality: class, deprivation, ethnicity, gender identity, disability, and poor mental health.

VISION Director and Professor of primary care at the University of Bristol, Gene Feder, and his Bristol colleagues, argue that the role of general practice needs to be based on the evidence for effective interventions. Despite the relatively recent recognition that violence prevention and mitigation is part of health care, that evidence has grown rapidly over the past two decades. It is strongest for the training of primary care teams linked to a referral pathway to the specialist domestic abuse sector in the UK as well as post-disclosure specialist support for survivors.

Experience of domestic violence and abuse is difficult to disclose and may endanger the patient if the abuser learns of disclosure. Disclosure may be even less likely with the increase of remote and digital access to general practice. Therefore, training for all clinicians should include how to ask about abuse, including in online or telephone consultations, how to appropriately and safely respond to disclosure, and to safely document in the medical record.

Although associated with inequality, VAWG is present in all communities. Prevention and mitigation needs to be across all sectors, with investment in interventions with individuals, families, communities, and tackling structural drivers of violence. General practice must be part of this societal response.

Key messages

  • There is overlap between different types of violence often affecting the same children, families, and households.
  • Intersections of deprivation, disability, poor mental health, and racism amplifies the effect of violence and trauma, also reducing access to general practice support.
  • Violence against women and girls (VAWG) requires a team-based general practice response underpinned by trauma-informed training and referral pathways to specialist services, often in the voluntary sector.
  • Effective responses to VAWG needs to be rooted in trauma-informed care, facilitated by relational continuity and enabled by face-to-face consultations.
  • Clinician experience of violence and abuse needs to be addressed in training and support.

To download: Violence against women and girls: how can general practice respond?

To cite: Violence against women and girls: how can general practice respond? Gene Feder, Helen Cramer, Lucy Potter, Jessica Roy and Eszter Szilassy. British Journal of General Practice 2025; 75 (756): 297-299. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0244

For further information, please contact Gene at gene.feder@bristol.ac.uk

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Examining the differing trends of violence between Wales and England

Violence is a public health problem, with significant individual, economic, health and social care costs. Monitoring violence trends and distribution is a key step of a public health approach to violence prevention.

Health service data in England and Wales are used to monitor temporal change in violence prevalence. However, administrative data relies on service contact and recording practices, while nationally representative surveys, such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), record information on violence even when services were not sought. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses CSEW to estimate prevalence of violent crime and changes over time, publishing these for England and Wales combined. Therefore, there is a need to examine whether trends in violence in Wales differ from trends in England, which is the aim of this report.

Dr Polina Obolenskaya led the study, Temporal trends in prevalence of violence in Wales: analysis of a national victimisation survey, with VISION colleagues Dr Anastasia Fadeeva, Emma Barton, Dr Alex Walker, Lara Snowdon and Professor Sally McManus. Using CSEW data, for years 2002–2020, they compared trends in prevalence of violence victimisation between Wales and England, for all adults and by gender.

Country-disaggregated data shows that the prevalence of violence was generally lower in Wales than in England for the first decade of the century. Analyses by gender shows further disparities between countries. Males in Wales and England and females in England experienced a decline in violence victimisation between 2002 and 2015 but there was no decline in violence for females in Wales until after 2016. This decline in violence for females in Wales differed for females in England who experienced an upturn in prevalence of violence from 2015.

Different patterns of violence in England and Wales indicate that relying on combined estimates of violence for England and Wales in strategy development and planning in Wales should be avoided. Further work is required to understand why trends differ between England and Wales, including analyses accounting for socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of each population, as well as thorough considerations of potential policy drivers.

Recommendation

Given differences in prevalence and trends in violence between Wales and England, relying on estimates based on the countries combined to inform strategic planning in Wales is problematic. Using Wales-specific estimates and trends in violence is therefore recommended.

To download: Temporal trends in prevalence of violence in Wales: analysis of a national victimisation survey

To cite: P. Obolenskaya, A. Fadeeva, E.R. Barton, A. Walker, L.C. Snowdon, S. McManus, Temporal trends in prevalence of violence in Wales: analysis of a national victimisation survey,
Public Health, Volume 245, 2025,105775, ISSN 0033-3506, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2025.105775.

For further information, please contact Polina at polina.obolenskaya@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Multiple adverse childhood experiences and mental and physical health outcomes in adulthood: New systematic review protocol assessing causality

Research suggests that adverse childhood experiences can have a lasting influence on children’s development that result in poorer health outcomes in adulthood. Like other exposure-outcome relationships, however, there is uncertainty about the extent to which the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and health is causal or attributable to other factors.

The aim of this systematic review is to better understand the nature and extent of the evidence available to infer a causal relationship between adverse childhood experiences and health outcomes in adulthood.

A comprehensive search for articles will be conducted in four databases (Medline, CINAHL, PsycInfo and Web of Science) and Google Scholar. The team, led by Dr Lisa Jones of Liverpool John Moores University, and includes VISION researchers Professor Mark Bellis and Professor Sally McManus, will review studies published since 2014:

  • of adults aged 16 years or over with exposure to adverse childhood experiences before age 16 years from general population samples;
  • that report measures across multiple categories of childhood adversity, including both direct and indirect types; and
  • report outcomes related to disease morbidity and mortality.

To download the protocol: Interpreting evidence on the association between multiple adverse childhood experiences and mental and physical health outcomes in adulthood: protocol for a systematic review assessing causality

To cite: Jones L, Bellis MA, Butler N, et al. Interpreting evidence on the association between multiple adverse childhood experiences and mental and physical health outcomes in adulthood: protocol for a systematic review assessing causality. BMJ Open 2025;15:e091865.  doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-091865

For further information, please contact Lisa at l.jones1@ljmu.ac.uk

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Systematic review: Effectiveness of UK-based adult domestic and sexual violence support interventions and services

Recommendations

  • Further high-quality research into the effectiveness of domestic and sexual violence and abuse (DVSA) interventions and evaluations of perpetrator programmes are required, including randomised controlled studies where appropriate and ethical, to improve certainty regarding the effect estimates generated from evidence syntheses. Published protocols, adherence to reporting guidelines, such as CONSORT, STROBE and SQUIRE 2.0, and considering and accounting for confounding factors where randomisation is not feasible, will strengthen the research.
  • Developing a core outcome set via co-production with survivors, practitioners and service providers, commissioners, policy makers and researchers will increase consistency in reported outcomes and create the cohesion necessary to develop a robust evidence base to aid understanding of how effective various support services are.

In the United Kingdom, there are a range of support services and interventions for people who have experienced domestic and sexual violence and abuse (DSVA), including refuges, advocacy such as Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs), referral, outreach, and helplines. These are often provided by the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), although may also be located in the public or private sector. Due to the lack of consensus on outcomes used to assess effectiveness, evidence syntheses in this field have been limited.

Dr Sophie Carlisle led a team of VISION researchers, Dr Annie Bunce, Prof Sally McManus, Dr Estela Capelas Barbosa, Prof Gene Feder, and Dr Natalia V Lewis, and Prof Matthew Prina from Kings College London. They used findings from their scoping review to identify the common reported outcomes, to direct and inform an evidence synthesis on the effectiveness of UK-based interventions and services for DSVA.

The team conducted a systematic review and, where possible, meta-analysis. They searched relevant peer reviewed and grey literature sources. The following were included: randomised controlled trials, non-randomised comparative studies, pre-post studies, and service evaluations of support interventions or services for adults who had experienced or perpetrated DSVA. The intervention typology and selection of outcomes was determined based on co-production with stakeholders from specialist DSVA organisations. The quality of the studies was assessed independently by two reviewers. Where meta-analysis was not possible, the researchers synthesized studies with vote counting based on the direction of effect.

The review demonstrates that there appear to be benefits of UK-based advocacy and outreach services, psychological support interventions, and perpetrator programmes. However, risk of bias and methodological heterogeneity means that there is uncertainty regarding the estimated effects.

A co-produced core-outcome set is needed to develop a more robust evidence base and facilitate future research in this field. Research practices such as publishing of study protocols, following reporting guidelines and, for research where randomisation is not feasible, considering and accounting for potential confounding factors, would greatly improve the quality of research.

To download the paper: Effectiveness of UK-based support interventions and services aimed at adults who have experienced or used domestic and sexual violence and abuse: a systematic review and meta-analysis – PMC

To cite: Carlisle S, Bunce A, Prina M, McManus S, Barbosa E, Feder G, Lewis NV. Effectiveness of UK-based support interventions and services aimed at adults who have experienced or used domestic and sexual violence and abuse: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2025 Mar 14;25(1):1003. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-21891-5. PMID: 40087589; PMCID: PMC11908015.

For further information, please contact Sophie at sophie.carlisle4@nhs.net

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Physical health conditions and intimate partner violence: A gendered issue

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread global public health issue with serious and long-lasting consequences. While much research has focused on the mental health consequences of IPV, such as depression and PTSD, there is limited evidence on its association with physical health.

This study explored how different types and number of types of IPV are linked to specific physical health conditions, and whether these associations differ between men and women. VISION researchers Dr Ladan Hashemi, Dr Anastasia Fadeeva and Professor Sally McManus, with Nadia Khan, City St George’s UoL, examined this using data from the 2014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey.

Key findings include:

  • Women were more likely to experience IPV and a higher number of IPV types than men.
  • Women’s experience of lifetime and 12-month IPV were significantly associated with 12 and 11 different physical health conditions, respectively, while men’s experience of lifetime and 12-month IPV were significantly associated with 4 and 1 conditions, respectively.
  • Different types of IPV types were associated with different types of physical health condition, particularly among women.
  • A cumulative association between experiencing a greater number of IPV types and an increased risk of physical health conditions was evident for women but not for men.

The research concludes that IPV is a gendered issue, with stronger associations between IPV and physical health evident in this data for women than for men. This may be because women are more likely to experience more and multiple types of IPV, more frequently, and more often with injury. Healthcare systems must recognise IPV as a priority issue, ensuring support is tailored to those affected.

Recommendation

  • Healthcare systems need to address IPV as a priority health issue for the female population. Gender-informed approaches in IPV intervention strategies and healthcare provision are required. This means emphasising the development of IPV-responsive healthcare systems and comprehensive IPV curricula in medical and health training.

To download the paper: Intimate partner violence and physical health in England: Gender stratified analyses of a probability sample survey – Ladan Hashemi, Anastasia Fadeeva, Nadia Khan, Sally McManus, 2025

To cite: Hashemi L, Fadeeva A, Khan N, McManus S. Intimate partner violence and physical health in England: Gender stratified analyses of a probability sample survey. Women’s Health. 2025;21. doi:10.1177/17455057251326419

For further information, please contact Ladan at ladan.hashemi@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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