Dr Sarah Gunn

I am a lecturer for Leicester's School of Psychology and Vision Sciences. I am also a registered and practicing clinical psychologist, with the majority of my clinical experience in neuropsychological settings and physical health psychology.

I continue to work clinically in the NHS and in the third sector, including creation and delivery of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy group work for people affected by Huntington's disease. I currently hold ESRC IAA funding to support the impact of this work, alongside a European Huntington's Disease Network Lesley Jones Seed Fund with Lancaster University colleagues to underpin evaluation of mental health services for people affected by HD in the UK.

I am co-lead for the Leicester Huntington's Disease Network and have held a consultancy role with the Huntington's Disease Association of England and Wales since 2023.

As an academic my research focuses on:

• Cognition, behaviour and emotion in ageing and neurodegenerative illness, with a particular emphasis on assessing and intervening around wellbeing issues in Huntington’s disease.
• The psychological impact of physical health conditions, including diabetes, neurological conditions and other long-term health difficulties.
• Impacts of caregiving on family members supporting a loved one with a long-term condition, such as Huntington's disease or acquired brain injury.
• Stressors and burden on healthcare staff in various contexts, such as psychological services and residential care.
• Understanding how we socially and clinically think about death, dying and end of life.

Key current projects are:

• Piloting Acceptance and Commitment Therapy interventions for people affected by Huntington's disease (with funding from the UoL ESRC IAA panel).
• Evaluating mental healthcare for people affected by Huntington's disease (funded by the European Huntington's Disease Network).
• Supporting doctoral trainees with a range of neurological and physical health thesis research, focusing on assessing, understanding and intervening around mental wellbeing for affected individuals, family and caregivers.

I currently hold UKRI funding from the 2022 Healthy Ageing Catalyst Awards, with which we are investigating impacts of cognitive change in typically-ageing adults.

I am also pursuing research in the following areas, with collaborators from interdisciplinary backgrounds:

• Cognitive, behavioural and emotional difficulties in people diagnosed with Huntington's disease, related therapeutic approaches, and stressors and dynamics in HD-affected families.
• Uses of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for people affected by neurological conditions.
• Formal and informal caregiver burden in neurological settings, and accessibility of related services.
• Changes in cognition in typical and pathological ageing (e.g., Alzheimer's disease).
• The impact of self-compassion on wellbeing in long-term illness, e.g. diabetes.
• Effects of self-perception and others' perceptions in visible health conditions.

Example papers from my areas of interest are listed below. For a full list, please see my Google Scholar or OrcID profiles.

Huntington's disease:

• Dale, M., Wood, A., Zarotti, N., Eccles, F., Gunn, S., ...Simpson, J. (2022). Using a clinical formulation to understand psychological distress in people affected by Huntington's disease: A descriptive, evidence-based model. Journal of Personalized Medicine, 12(8), 1222.
• Maltby, J., Ovaska-Stafford, N., & Gunn, S. (2021). The structure of mental health symptoms in Huntington's disease: Comparisons with healthy populations. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 43(7), 737-752.
• Gunn, S., Maltby, J., & Dale, M. (2020). Assessing mental health difficulties among people with Huntington's disease: Does informant presence make a difference? Journal of Neuropsychology and Clinical Neurosciences, 32(3), 244-51.
• Simpson, J., Dale, M., Theed, R., Gunn, S., Zarotti, N., & Eccles, F. (2019). Validity of irritability in Huntington's disease: A scoping review. Cortex, 120, 353-74.

Acquired brain injury:

• Gunn, S., & Burgess, G. H. (2020). Factors predicting rehabilitation outcomes after severe acquired brain injury in trauma, stroke and anoxia populations: A cohort study. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, e-pub, 1-32.
• Gunn, S., Schouwenaars, K., & Badwan, D. (2018). Correlation between neurobehavioural assessment and functional magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of prolonged disorders of consciousness. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 28(8), 1311-18.
• Gunn, S., Burgess, G. H., & Maltby, J. (2018). A factor analysis of Functional Independence and Functional Assessment Measure scores among focal and diffuse brain injury patients: The importance of bi-factor models. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 99(9), 1805-10.

Effects of long-term illness:

• Gunn, S., Henson, J., Robertson, N., Maltby, J., Brady, E., ...& Davies, M. (accepted). Self-compassion, sleep quality and psychological wellbeing: A cross-sectional study. BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care. 
• Robertson, N., Gunn, S., & Piper, R. (2021). The experience of self-conscious emotions in inflammatory bowel disease: A thematic analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings.
• Mayor, R., Gunn, S., Reuber, M., & Simpson, J. (2021). Experiences of stigma in people with epilepsy: A meta-synthesis of qualitative evidence. Seizure.

Staff wellbeing:

• Chamdal, V., Gunn, S., & Robertson, N. (in preparation). Conceptualisation and prevalence of work-related stress in genetic counsellors: A systematic review.
• Malik, S., Gunn, S., & Robertson, N. (2021). The impact of patient suicide on doctors and nurses: A critical interpretive meta-synthesis. Archives of Suicide Research, e-pub.

I am interested in supervising research relating to:

• Psychological impacts of neurodegenerative and other neurological conditions (cognition, behaviour and emotion).
• Effects of neurological conditions on families and caregivers.
• How people manage long-term illness, including the impact of shame and stigma.
• Therapeutic interventions in any of the above contexts.

My teaching responsibilities are primarily related to the Leicester Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Currently, I supervise twelve clinical psychology trainees in their thesis work relevant to neurological and physical health conditions. I also supervise three PhD students focused on assessment and formulation of cognitive and emotional difficulties relating to neurological conditions. I further co-supervise an external PhD exploring the philosophy of psychotherapy.

For our undergraduate Psychology course, I contribute to teaching on the Clinical Psychology third year module. I also recently co-led the redevelopment of the medical school intercalated MSc module on "Science, Society and Responsible Research", and continue to contribute to teaching on this course around Open Research and ethical research practice.

I offer projects for PhD, MRes and intercalated medical students, as well as supervising clinical doctorate trainees pursuing research in my areas of interest. I am always keen to ensure that research has clinical relevance as well as academic importance, and I strongly support students and trainees to pursue projects in which they have an interest themselves.

I am happy to be contacted regarding the following broad areas:

• Neurodegenerative disease and its psychological effects (cognition, behaviour and emotion), as well as how families are affected
• Staff wellbeing in healthcare settings
• Effects of long-term illness on psychological wellbeing
• Open Science in research and clinical teaching