Helen Sharpe
Senior Lecturer, Research Lead for Clinical and Health Psychology

Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 651 3949
- Email: helen.sharpe@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Room 2.8, Doorway 6, Medical Quad, Teviot Place
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9AG
Background
I began my studies with a focus in social and developmental psychology in the BA Social and Political Sciences programme at the University of Cambridge. I then took a brief divergence into philosophy by spending a year obtaining an MSc Philosophy of Mental Health, a programme that was run jointly by the Institute of Psychiatry and the Philosophy Department at King’s College London.
With a hankering to return to psychology, I joined the Section of Eating Disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, where I completed my PhD between 2010 and 2013. My work focused on the prevention of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in adolescents using interventions that could be delivered in schools. I remained with the Eating Disorder group for a further year, before moving north of the Thames to join the Evidence Based Practice Unit, a group that is jointly affiliated with the Anna Freud Centre and University College London. In this role, my focus was on intervention evaluation and the use of large existing datasets to examine risk and resilience in the development of mental health problems in young people.
In 2015, I continued my northerly trajectory moving up to Edinburgh to join the Department of Clinical Psychology as a Lecturer. Here I am working closely with colleagues from the Centre for Applied Developmental Psychology on understanding the development of negative body image in adolescence and on designing and evaluating school-based interventions for mental health.
Postgraduate teaching
- I am the programme director for our PhD/MScR in Clinical and Health Psychology
- I also teach on the MSc Applied Psychology for Children and Young People, with a focus on health promotion and research dissertations.
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
I am interested in hearing from potential PhD students who would like to explore questions about body image or disordered eating. We have an active research group on Eating Behaviours and Disorders in the Section and all doctoral students will be invited to join.
Current PhD students supervised
Huong Le
Marie-Christine Opitz
SiennaMarisa Brown
MacKenzie Robertson
Rowena Piers
Research summary
I am interested in understanding the development of body dissatisfaction and other internalising difficulties across childhood and adolescence, with a particular focus on the role that peers and friendships may play in these difficulties. This involves both understanding the risk and resilience processes that lead to these difficulties and designing and testing interventions to help young people who are struggling with their body image or their mood.
My work involves collaborating with a number of different academic teams both within the UK and internationally, and working closely with clinicians and people working in schools. I am always happy to hear from people who want to find out more about this area of research, who would be interested in collaborating, or who might want to take part in any of our on-going studies. Please just send me an email on helen.sharpe@ed.ac.uk.
Current research interests
Body image; Disordered eating; Adolescent development; Depression and low mood; Intervention evaluation strategiesKnowledge exchange
I really enjoy talking about my research with the public and often host workshops/conferences for professionals who work with young people and want to know more about body image. I have worked together with the Government Equalities Office and Beat to write a toolkit about body image for those working with young people. You can access this toolkit here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/body-confidence-a-rapid-evidence-assessment-of-the-literature
Some of my work has received attention from the wider media. For example:
- You can see me talking about young women's engagement with sport and exercise at the Scottish Parliament here: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/young-women-lead-february-22-2019
- You can hear me talking about rising levels of mental health difficulties in girls on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05r0b39
- You can hear me talking about body image interventions in schools on BBC Radio 4's All in the Mind here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03kqg0f
I have also had the privilege of being involved in an award-winning piece of theatre by Caroline Horton. You can find out about any future tour dates and learn more about the show here: http://www.chinaplatetheatre.com/mess
-
Exploring the association between parental anti-fat attitudes and restrictive feeding practices in a British and Irish sample
(9 pages)
In:
Appetite, vol. 168
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105755
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Early weight gain trajectories in first episode anorexia: Predictors of outcome for emerging adults in outpatient treatment
(8 pages)
In:
Journal of Eating Disorders, vol. 9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-021-00448-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Exploring changes in body image, eating and exercise during the COVID-19 lockdown: A UK survey
In:
Appetite, vol. 159, pp. 1-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.105062
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A network meta-analysis of psychological interventions for schizophrenia and psychosis: Impact on symptoms
(13 pages)
In:
Schizophrenia Research, vol. 228, pp. 447-459
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2020.12.036
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Changes in peer and sibling victimization in early adolescence: Longitudinal associations with multiple indices of mental health in a prospective birth cohort study
(10 pages)
In:
European child & adolescent psychiatry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-020-01708-z
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A qualitative exploration of the impact of COVID-19 on individuals with eating disorders in the UK
In:
Appetite, vol. 156
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104977
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Mixed methods pilot evaluation of interpersonal psychotherapy for body image for adolescents
In:
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104520963371
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The psychometric properties of Orthorexia Nervosa assessment scales: A systematic review and reliability generalization
In:
Appetite, vol. 155
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104797
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Changes in the prevalence and correlates of weight-control behaviors and weight perception in adolescents in the UK, 1986-2015
In:
JAMA pediatrics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.4746
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
SafeSpot: An innovative app and mental health support package for Scottish schools - a qualitative analysis as part of a mixed methods study
In:
Child and Adolescent Mental Health, vol. 25
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12375
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)