معرفی
Dr Stuart Spicer is a Senior Research Fellow at PenARC (NIHR Applied Research Collaboration - South West Peninsula) and part of the Community & Primary Care Research Group at the University of Plymouth. His work focuses on applied healthcare research, particularly in chronic pain management, mental health, and older adult healthcare, with an emphasis on socio-economic inequality and the overprescribing of medications such as opioids and antidepressants. He leads projects on safer management of chronic pain and psychological distress, including a study on older adults. His research also explores the relationship between loot boxes in video games and problem gambling, drawing on cognitive psychology and experimental methodologies.
Key research interests span preventative healthcare strategies, population health management, and health inequalities analysis. Stuart employs quantitative methods and routinely collected healthcare data to evaluate interventions and services, including projects like D-PACT (dementia care) and Engager (mental health interventions for offenders). His cognitive psychology work examines associative learning, decision-making frameworks, and spatial navigation theories, contributing to models like the Rescorla-Wagner framework.
Recent projects include evaluating Community Assessment & Treatment Units (CATUs) in Cornwall and analyzing occupational health interventions. Stuart also supervises doctoral projects and has contributed to systematic reviews on gaming behaviors. His work bridges clinical and behavioral research, addressing both healthcare service optimization and public health challenges.
