Dr Aikaterini (Katerina) Kassavou

Lecturer in Psychology

Aikaterini Kassavou I am a Chartered Psychologist (British Psychological Society) previously trained in Clinical Health Psychology (MSc) and Applied Health Psychology (PhD). I currently work as a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Bedfordshire.

Formerly, I worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge Clinical Medical School (2014-2022) and the UCL Medical School (2023-2024); where I obtained expertise on promoting health behaviours for people with multi-morbidities (e.g., cardio-metabolic disease, obesity, mental health) via the use of digital and brief face-to-face psychological therapies. Predominantly, I have utilised participatory methods to develop and evaluate tailored psychological interventions for the primary care NHS.

My research investigates how to support people change and maintain changes of health behaviours, like physical activity, medication adherence, healthy diet, alcohol consumption, and smoking cessation. I am a multidisciplinary researcher with expertise in mixed methods, like qualitative (e.g., discourse analysis, grounded theory) and quantitative analysis (e.g., multivariable analyses, regression models). I also obtained expertise on systematic literature reviews and evidence synthesis. I am multidisciplinary Psychologists with world leading leadership in Psychology applied to support treatments of long-term health conditions. My work has been published in leading journals like the Nature Sci Reports.

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PhD in Psychology – Coventry University UK
MSc in Clinical Health Psychology (Distinction) - Department of Psychology University of Crete Greece
BSc in Psychology (Distinction) – Department of Psychology University of Crete Greece

Module Lead – the University of Cambridge, MPhil in Population Health Sciences (2014-2022)
Module Lead – UCL, PG Changing Population Perspectives (2023-2024)
Lecturer - UCL, Y6 SSC Behaviour Change (2023-2024)
Teaching Associate – Warwick Business School, MBA programme (2016-2023)

British Psychological Society, Chartered member
HEA, Associate Fellow

Digital Health Interventions to Promote Health and Wellbeing
Process Evaluations of Health Behaviour Change Interventions in Older Adults with Multi-morbidities (e.g., cardio-metabolic, mental health, obesity)
Physical activity, Eating Behaviour, Smoking Cessation, Medication Adherence
Mixed methods, qualitative (e.g., grounded theory), quantitative (e.g., multivariable regression models), systematic reviewing and evidence synthesis

Kassavou A (co-I), Sutton S, Wilson E, Griffin S, Prevost T. Feasibility of MAPS (Medication Adherence for Patient Support): A highly tailored text and voice messaging intervention to support medication adherence among patients with type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension in primary care. National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) £233,577
Kassavou A (PI), Sutton S. Developing and pre-testing a tailored interactive voice response (IVR) intervention to support adherence to anti-hypertensive medications. School of Primary Care Research NIHR £48,257

Editorial board of the British Journal of Health Psychology (2010-present)
Editorial committee of the Frontiers in Health Services, Implementation Science (2023-present)
Invited Academic Editor of Behavioural Science (2023-present)
Invited Academic Editor Frontier in Digital Health (2023-present)
Invited expert advisory board for Nuffield grant ‘UCL Raising educational outcomes for pupils with SEN and disabilities’ (2023-2024)

T. Rookes, K. Kantilal, K. Walters, N. Kime, A. Kassavou, M. Younossi, WN. Tsang, P. Schartau, B. Gardner, N. Davies, A. Schrag. Experiences of a personalised intervention to support self-management in PwP – PD-Care: Live Well with Parkinson’s [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2024; 39 (suppl 1). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/experiences-of-a-personalised-intervention-to-support-self-management-in-pwp-pd-care-live-well-with-parkinsons/. Accessed October 12, 2024.

Selected teaching-related publications

Choi C, Fineberg M, Kassavou A. Evidence on the effectiveness of telemedicine and automated mHealth behavioural interventions to support medication adherence in patients after stroke. A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13030246
Wang S, Kassavou A. Evaluating the effectiveness of digital intervention to support physical activity and sedentary behaviour in patients after stroke. A systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Sci. 2023, 13(1), 62; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13010062
Chilala I, Kassavou A, et al. Evaluating the effectiveness of remote behavioural interventions facilitated by health care providers to support medication adherence in patients with cardiovascular conditions. A systematic literature review with meta-analysis. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 57 (2) 2023, 99–110, https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaac037
Berry R, Kassavou A, Sutton S. Does self-monitoring diet and physical activity behaviours using digital technology support adults with obesity or overweight to lose weight? A systematic review with meta-analysis. Obesity Reviews 2021; 22 (10): e13306
Tsoli S, Sutton S, Kassavou, A. Interactive voice response interventions targeting behaviour change: a systematic literature review with meta-analysis and meta-regression. BMJ Open.8:e018974
Kassavou A, et al. The association between smartphone app-based self-monitoring of hypertension related behaviours and reductions in blood pressure: systematic review with meta-analysis. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2022; 10(7):334767. DOI: 10.2196/34767

Selected research-related publications

Kassavou A, et al. The feasibility of the PAM intervention to support treatment-adherence in people with hypertension in primary care: a randomised clinical controlled trial. Nature Scientific Reports 2021; 11:8897. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-88170-2
Kassavou A, et al Process evaluation of MAPS: a highly tailored digital intervention to support medication adherence in primary care. Frontier in Public Health 2021; 9:806168.
Kassavou A, et al. Acceptability of the medication for patients support (MAPS) intervention to improve adherence to patients prescribed medication for hypertension or comorbidities, as an adjunct to primary care: a qualitative study. Journal of Health Psychology 2021; 2691:168-180.
Kassavou A, et al. A highly tailored text and voice messaging intervention to improve medication adherence in patients with either or both hypertension and type 2 Diabetes in a UK primary care setting: Feasibility randomized controlled trial of clinical effectiveness. Journal of Medical Internet Research 2020;22(5):e16629