M Barker MRC MR/N011848/1

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Mary Barker PhD, C Psychol

Prof of Psychology & Behavioural Science

Research interests

Mary Barker is Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Science. She has a joint appointment in both the Faculty of Medicine and the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton UK. Mary runs a programme of work in both the UK and in low-income countries aiming to engage young people in improving their sense of agency, well-being and mental health, to benefit their health in general but their diets and physical activity habits more specifically. Her team’s approach is participatory and combines social activism focused on engaging young people in the climate change and health agenda and testing methods of one-to-one support and digital resources including smartphone games. Much of this work takes place as part of her NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research EACH-B (Engaging Adolescents in Changing Behaviour). She partners in this activity with the TALENT network of colleagues with interests in adolescent health and well-being based in institutions in low-and-middle-income countries. Her team also ran a five-country, longitudinal qualitative study with young people throughout the pandemic exploring their experience, mental health, well-being and resilience, data from which supported UK local and national government COVID messaging to young people. She is adjunct professor at the University of Agder, Norway, and has honorary appointments at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, and University College London.

Connect with Mary

Email: meb@mrc.soton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Dr Leanne Morrison

Associate Professor

Research interests

Health Psychology
Person-based intervention development
Digital technology

Connect with Leanne

Email: L.Morrison@soton.ac.uk

Research outputs

Developmental origins of health and disease

Janis Baird, Chandni Maria Jacob, Mary Barker, Caroline Fall, Mark Hanson, Nicholas Harvey, Hazel Inskip, Kalyanaraman Kumaran & Cyrus Cooper, 2017, Healthcare (Basel), 5(1)

DOI: 10.3390/healthcare5010014

Type: article

Interventions to prevent maternal obesity prior to conception, during pregnancy and post partum

Mark Hanson, Mary Barker, Jodie M. Dodd, Shiriki Kumanyika, Shane Norris, Eric Steegers, Judith Stephenson, Shakila Thangaratinam & Huixia Yang, 2017, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 5(1), 65-76

DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(16)30108-5

Type: article

The relationship between maternal self-efficacy, compliance and outcome in a trial of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy

Mary Barker, Stefania D'angelo, Georgia Ntani, Wendy Lawrence, Janis Baird, Megan Jarman, Christina Vogel, Hazel Inskip, Cyrus Cooper, Nicholas Harvey, N.J. Bishop, S. Kennedy, A.T. Papageorghiou, I. Schoenmakers, R. Fraser, S.V. Gandhi, A. Carr, Sarah Crozier, Rebecca Moon, Nigel Arden, Elaine Dennison, Keith Godfrey, A. Prentice, M.Z. Mughal, R. Eastell, D.M. Reid & Muhammad Javaid, 2016, Osteoporosis International, 1-8

DOI: 10.1007/s00198-016-3721-5

Type: article

Education moderates the association between supermarket environment and diet

C. Vogel, G. Ntani, H. Inskip, M. Barker, S. Cummins, C. Cooper, G. Moon & J. Baird, 2016, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 51(2), e27-e34

DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2016.02.030

Type: article

Commentary on 'Young parents' views and experiences of interactions with health professionals': tools for engaging and supporting teenage parents to improve their lives.

Sofia Strommer, Wendy Lawrence & Mary Barker, 2016, Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health Care, 42(3), 185-186

DOI: 10.1136/jfprhc-2016-101536

Type: article