Dr Lauren Powell
BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD, FHEA
School of Education
Lecturer in Psychology and Education


+44 114 222 8179
Full contact details
School of Education
Edgar Allen House
241 Glossop Rd
Sheffield
S10 2GW
- Research interests
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Lauren’s research interests focus on the psychoeducation of young people with neurodisabilities. She is also interested in the use of innovative co-design methodologies in the design of complex interventions of children and young people with neurodisabilities. She is currently leading a project that involves the development of a psychoeducational resource for autistic children and young people in collaboration with the Lab4Living at Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Derby and NIHR Children and Young People MedTech. She is also involved in psychoeducational interventions for children and young people with mental health difficulties across Yorkshire.
Her previous related work has involved the development of a psychoeducational resource for young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and this resource is now being used by a number of NHS Trusts, schools and charities across the UK.
Her previous systematic review work has focused on the effectiveness of existing psychoeducational interventions for children with ADHD, the level of evidence and suitability of available technologies for children and young people with ADHD to self manage their condition and more recently the effectiveness of psychoeducational interventions for autistic children. Lauren has also conducted a realist evaluation to co-develop a set of recommendations to inform the future development of complex interventions for children and young people with ADHD.
She is interested in developing collaborations with those who are interested in developing psychoeducational interventions for adolescents with neurodisabilities such as ADHD and Autism as well as the psychoeducational needs of teachers.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Investigating the impact of at‐home learning on secondary school‐aged children with ADHD : a qualitative study. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs.
- The suitability and acceptability of a co-designed prototype psychoeducational activity book for seven- to eleven-year-olds with ADHD. Design for Health.
- The use of a smartphone app and an activity tracker to promote physical activity in the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease : randomized controlled feasibility study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 8(6). View this article in WRRO
- Effectiveness of Upper Limb Wearable Technology for Improving Activity and Participation in Adult Stroke Survivors: Systematic Review.. J Med Internet Res, 22(1), e15981. View this article in WRRO
- Using recurrent neural networks to compare movement patterns in ADHD and normally developing children based on acceleration signals from the wrist and ankle. Sensors, 19(13). View this article in WRRO
- Guideline development for technological interventions for children and young people to self-manage ADHD: A realist evaluation. Journal of Medical Internet Research. View this article in WRRO
- The effectiveness of group exercise for improving activity and participation in adult stroke survivors: a systematic review. Physiotherapy. View this article in WRRO
- Automatic Extraction and Detection of Characteristic Movement Patterns in Children with ADHD Based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Acceleration Images. Sensors, 11. View this article in WRRO
- Upper limb activity in chronic post-stroke survivors: A comparison of accelerometry data with the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT). Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, 61, e187-e187.
- Making Telecare desirable rather than a last resort. Ageing and Society, 38(5), 926-953. View this article in WRRO
- Recruitment of older adults to three preventative lifestyle improvement studies. Trials, 19. View this article in WRRO
- What is the level of evidence for the use of currently available technologies in facilitating the self-management of difficulties associated with ADHD in children and young people? A systematic review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. View this article in WRRO
- ADHD: Is There an App for That? A Suitability Assessment of Apps for the Parents of Children and Young People With ADHD. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 5(10). View this article in WRRO
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Is There an App for That? Suitability Assessment of Apps for Children and Young People With ADHD. Journal of mHealth and uHealth, 5(10). View this article in WRRO
- A preventative lifestyle intervention for older adults (lifestyle matters): a randomised controlled trial. Age And Ageing, 46, 627-634. View this article in WRRO
- Identification of walking strategies of people with osteoarthritis of the knee using insole pressure sensors. IEEE Sensors Journal, 17(12), 3909-3920. View this article in WRRO
- Sensor optimization in smart insoles for post-stroke gait asymmetries using total variation and L1 distances. IEEE Sensors Journal, 17(10), 3142-3151. View this article in WRRO
- Involving Users in the Evaluation of Apps for Specific Health Conditions. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 242, 646-653. View this article in WRRO
- The Effectiveness of Lower-Limb Wearable Technology for Improving Activity and Participation in Adult Stroke Survivors: A Systematic Review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 18(10). View this article in WRRO
- Identification of walking strategies of people with osteoarthritis of the knee using insole pressure sensors. Sensors. View this article in WRRO
- Addressing design and suitability barriers to Telecare use: Has anything changed?. Technology and Disability, 26(4), 221-235. View this article in WRRO
- Are you ‘Ready, Steady, Go?’: Development of a telehealth implementation toolkit. International Journal of Integrated Care, 13(7).
- Psychoeducation intervention effectiveness to improve social skills in young people with ADHD: a meta-analysis. Journal of Attention Disorders.
- View this article in WRRO
- Investigating the impact of at‐home learning on secondary school‐aged children with ADHD : a qualitative study. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs.
- Teaching interests
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Lauren is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the School of Education including the BA Education, Culture and Childhood, MA Education and MSc in Psychology and Education (Conversion). Lauren's teaching in the School focuses on child psychology, psychoeducation, research methods and paediatric neurodisabilities.
Prior to joining the School of Education, she was a Research Associate in the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), also at the University of Sheffield. Within this role she taught modules around research methods and ethical issues in research across the Clinical Research and Public Health masters programmes. She was also involved in the supervision of undergraduate and postgraduate students and provided a number of lectures to Allied Health Professionals at Sheffield Hallam University around the use of technology in healthcare.
Lauren is interested in supervising PhD students adopting predominantly qualitative methods who would like to study in the following areas:
- Co-design methods.
- Psychoeducation for children and young people with neurodisabilities and or their carers/supporters e.g. teachers, clinicians, parents/carers.
- Learning experiences of people diagnosed with or who identify as having a neurodisability.
- How adolescents with neurodisabilities (e.g ADHD or Autism) would like to access psychoeducational information.
- What motivates adults to seek a diagnosis of a neurodisability such as ADHD and autism.
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Member of the iHuman group
- Member of the editorial board for the British Journal of Educational Technology
- Lauren is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- Research Cluster lead for the School of Education's Education and Psychology Research Cluster.