Sundus Mahdi

BSc Psychology; MSc Health Psychology

Population Health, School of Medicine and Population Health

PhD student

smahdi1@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 272 4095

Full contact details

Sundus Mahdi
Population Health, School of Medicine and Population Health
West Court
2 Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 4DT
Profile

I began my studies at the University of Sheffield in 2017. Before that, I had completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology (2012) and a masters degree in Health Psychology (2014) at University College London.

I have previously worked at Sheffield Children’s Hospital as a Research Project Manager (2016-2017) where I managed an NIHR funded research project for the delivery of a study investigating the health status in children and young people with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH-UK; Chief Investigator: Dr Nils Krone). I also had the opportunity to intern at Public Health England (2015-2016) and worked mainly within the remit of work, worklessness and health.

 I also helped organise PHE national conferences where I liaised with speakers and facilitated workshops, including “Everybody Active Every Day” and “Improving the Health and Wellbeing of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans People and Communities”. I worked collaboratively to develop a set of tools for businesses including a Return on Investment tool and a Health Needs Assessment tool, and contributed to writing and editing rapid reviews, conference reports and health promotion material.

Before that, I took a Research Assistant position at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust (2014-2015), where I worked on a number of projects including a survey on improving access to NHS mental health services amongst Black Minority Ethnics in the Bradford District and an evaluation of a complex Stop Delirium! intervention for the prevention of delirium in care homes.

During my years as a student I volunteered at the Forced Migration Trauma Service, as an Assistant Psychologist, where I cared for the mental health and well-being of refugees escaping war-torn countries. My role emphasised the importance of psychometric measures and audit to track patient recovery and improve service delivery.

Research interests

Public Health, Health Economics and Decision Science (title to be confirmed)

My research interests are:

  • Behaviour change
  • Weight gain prevention
  • Childhood obesity
  • Health policy
Key publications
  • Beeken, R. J., Mahdi, S., Johnson, F., & Meisel, S. F. (2018). Intentions to Prevent Weight Gain in Older and Younger Adults; The Importance of Perceived Health and Appearance Consequences. Obesity Facts11(2), 83-92.
  • Mahdi, S and Mahmoodi, N and Siddiqi, N (2017) Using a taxonomy of behaviour change techniques to define key components of Stop Delirium! a complex intervention to prevent delirium in care homes. Journal of Psychology. ISSN 2515-138X (In Press)
  • Mahdi, S., & Furnham, A. (2016). The Effects of a Health-Based Context on Memory for Advertisements. Psychology7(08), 1163.
  • Mahdi, S., Ghannam, O., Watson, S., & Padela, A. I. (2016). Predictors of physician recommendation for ethically controversial medical procedures: findings from an exploratory national survey of American Muslim physicians. Journal of religion and health55(2), 403-421.
  • Ghannam, O., Mahdi, S., Sheikh, A., Mohamad, W., & Padela, A. (2015). An analysis of e-fatwas on tobacco inhalation. Paper presented at World Association for Medical Law: 2015 Annual Congress, Coimbra, August 2015.