Dr Margaret Coffey
School of Health & Society
Biography
Margaret came to Salford in 2010 as a Senior Lecturer after a period at Liverpool Hope University and was promoted to Reader in June 2013. Margaret’s PhD focused on stress in the workplace; an action research case study of social services. Margaret’s research interests focus on health, particularly at work, with a focus on the organisational, rather than the individual, factors that determine health and wellbeing in the workplace. Margaret has been involved with a number of workplace health research projects, including: HEIC – Improving Workplace Health in the Public and Private Sector of Greater Manchester: Working Well; and Improving Mental Health & Wellbeing in Mental Health Trusts; Best Practice in Promoting Employee Health and Wellbeing in the City of London. Previous PhD studies that Margaret has supervised in this field include: ‘the impact of working in a social enterprise on health and wellbeing’ (Dr. James Chandler) and the ‘ageing, health and retirement choices in a diverse workforce: a case study of a large private sector retail organisation’ (Dr. Clare Edge).
A current PhD study being undertaken in this field aims to 'design and evaluate a participatory workplace nutrition intervention to improve the health and wellbeing of constructions workers' (Magdalena Wronska). Margaret is also interested in evaluating behaviour change interventions in respect of lifestyle, and the social determinants of health and health inequalities. She has carried out a number of large evaluation projects, including ‘Vascular health checks in Salford: an exploration using FARSITE data’ (2014) an evaluation of the Blackburn with Darwen NHS Health Check Programme’ (2010), and an evaluation of the Salford Community Food Workers Project (2009), an evaluation of the Swap to Stop e-cigarette Pilot (2019). Examples of PhD projects Margaret has supervised in this field include: the evaluation of the ‘Live Active, exercise referral scheme’ in Tameside, which was carried out by Dr. Faye Prior, and co-supervised with Prof. Penny Cook and Dr. Anna Robins. Current PhD studies aimed at behaviour change include: 'The development of a novel health promotion intervention to improve parents’ knowledge, understanding and attitudes towards antibiotic use, prescription advice and resistance in Greater Manchester', which is being carried out by Cynthia Poolay Mootien, and co-supervised with Dr. Joe Latimer; An Investigative Study on University Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes towards the Food Dome in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is being carried out by Alexander Woodman, and co-supervised with Dr. Anna Cooper-Ryan, and 'How fathers from the Greater Manchester area understand the feeding and physical activity behaviours of their young child: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis', which is being carried out by Cheryl Eachus, and co-supervised with Dr. Anna Robins.
Other projects that Margaret is working on include: an NIHR-funded ‘community alcohol health champions’ project led by Professor Penny Cook (Communities in Charge of Alcohol, CICA), which is looking at how the communities can support each other with alcohol advice and whether communities can influence local alcohol licensing decisions; and an evaluation of an e-cigs intervention in Trafford with Professor Penny Cook and Dr. Anna Cooper-Ryan. Margaret has 12 PhD completions, and is currently supervising a further 3 UK PhD students and a further student from Saudi Arabia.
Areas of Research
Workplace health, Health inequalities, Evaluation
I am a senior Fellow of the Higher Education Education Academy.
Qualifications
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PhD
2000 - 2004