School of Medicine

Research overview

Cherry-Ann is a Research Associate / Trial Manager on the OSTRICH (Oral STeroids for the Resolution of otitis media with effusion In CHildren) study, which is a randomised double blind placebo controlled trial of oral steroids to improve hearing in children aged 2-8 years with otitis media with effusion, and the DUTY (Diagnosis of Urinary Tract infections in Young children) study, which is an observational, prospective cohort study to derive a clinical algorithm for the diagnosis of urinary tract infections in acutely unwell pre-school children presenting to primary care.

Cherry-Ann completed her PhD in the Institute of Primary Care and Public Health at Cardiff University, supervised by Professor Glyn Elwyn and Dr John Gallacher. It was funded by a doctoral training grant from the Medical Research Council. Her research involved developing and evaluating a web-based cardiovascular risk prediction tool and randomised controlled trial on cardiovascular risk representation formats.

Research interests

• Risk communication
• Behaviour change
• Shared decision making
• Health technologies

Education & qualifications

• PhD (Medicine) – Thesis: Cardiovascular Risk Prediction: How useful are web-based tools and do risk representation formats matter?
• Bsc (Hons) Psychology

Selected key publications

• The diagnosis of urinary tract infections in young children (DUTY): protocol for a diagnostic and prospective observational study to derive and validate a clinical algorithm for the diagnosis of UTI in children presenting to primary care with an acute illness.
  Downing H, Thomas-Jones E, Gal M, Waldron CA, Sterne J, Hollingworth W, Hood K, Delaney B, Little P, Howe R, Wootton M, Macgowan A, Butler CC, Hay AD, DUTY study team None, Bmc Infect Dis, Volume 12 (2012) p. 158
• What are effective strategies to communicate cardiovascular risk information to patients? A systematic review.
  Waldron CA, van der Weijden T, Ludt S, Gallacher J, Elwyn G, Patient Educ Couns, Volume 82, 2 (February 2011) pp.169-181
• The effect of different cardiovascular risk presentation formats on intentions, understanding and emotional affect: a randomised controlled trial using a web-based risk formatter (protocol).
  Waldron CA, Gallacher J, van der Weijden T, Newcombe R, Elwyn G, Bmc Med Inform Decis Mak, Volume 10 (2010) p. 41