Dr Caroline Kamau-Mitchell
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Overview
Overview
Highlights
Dr Kamau specialises in research about occupationally preparing medical doctors, nurses and patients. She is a member of the Birkbeck Centre for Medical Humanities and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. Her research has been featured in the media and she is the co-inventor of an occupational health intervention for doctors and other NHS staff coping with burnout and other signs of work-related distress. The intervention is used in several hospitals.
Media interviews include The Guardian newspaper at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/16/doctors-turn-to-alcohol-food-and-drugs-to-cope-with-work-stress , the BBC at https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200331-how-to-eat-a-healthy-diet-when-work-from-home-coronavirus?ocid=global_worklife_rss , The Guardian newspaper at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/17/alarming-number-of-cancer-medics-suffering-burnout-and-stress and more e.g. The Times newspaper, British Medical Association news, The Conversation, Medical Health News, Medscape news, Medical Express, BBC radio, BBC South TV etc.
She is dedicated to taking science to the public in Psychology Today with her series about the Science of Mental Health reaching a quarter of a million readers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/experts/caroline-kamau-phd and regularly topping the readership charts.
Co-inventor of the Working Stress board-game and app, www.workingstress.co.uk , an anti-stress intervention for doctors, nurses and other health staff used in many NHS hospitals, e.g. University Hospitals Birmingham, BARTS Health NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, and the NHS Practitioner Health Programme, a service for doctors and dentists in distress.
Dr. Kamau has written about how science can build research impact in Nature, the highly prestigious journal ranked in the top 10 of all academic journals worldwide with millions of readers. Her research has an impact on academics, doctors, clinical staff and the public with altmetric "research attention" scores ranked in the top 5% in the world e.g. https://www.altmetric.com/details/57350793 and https://www.altmetric.com/details/60522049
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Kent, 2005
- BSc (hons) Psychology with Clinical Psychology, University of Kent, 2001
Administrative responsibilities
- Undergraduate Programme Director
- Chair of the Undergraduate Exam Board
- Module Convenor of a module about mental disorders in occupational contexts (Psychopathology and Work)
- Module Convenor of a module about social cognition and applied experimental psychology (Group Processes in Organizations)
- Supervisor of Master's (MSc) research
- Supervisor of doctoral (PhD) research
Professional activities
Dr. Kamau has given talks at many national and international conferences. She was invited to talk to oncologists about burnout at the CNS Bootcamp held at the University of Cambridge, 2018. She gave a talk at the global health conference at the University of Oxford, 2018; the 4th ICHWS conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2014; the ACES conference in Hiroshima, Japan, 2015; the IACCP conference in Nagoya, Japan, 2016; and the I/O conference in Sydney, Australia, 2017.
She is a reviewer for prestigious journals such as the Journal of Clinical Psychology; the Journal of Affective Disorders; Stress and Health; Psychiatry Research; Schizophrenia Research; the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, and more. She was the editor of the Wessex Psychologist Bulletin for a number of years, a hard-copy magazine with a readership of over 6,000 people per issue.
She is dedicated to taking science to the public in Psychology Today with her series about the Science of Mental Health reaching a quarter of a million readers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/experts/caroline-kamau-phd and regularly topping the readership charts.
Professional memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine
MBPsS at the British Psychological Society.
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Member of the Birkbeck Centre for Medical Humanities
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Research
Research
Research interests
- I research the causes and consequences of occupational distress experienced by medical doctors. Using large dataset studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and randomised-controlled trials, I examine methods of reducing burnout, stress and mental disorders. I co-invented a board-game and apps used in hospitals and workplaces. I explore the usefulness of psychology in medical training/practice.
Research overview
Dr Kamau specialises in research about occupationally preparing medical doctors, nurses and patients. She is a member of the Birkbeck Centre for Medical Humanities and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. Her research has been featured in the media and she is the co-inventor of an occupational health intervention for doctors and other NHS staff coping with burnout and other signs of work-related distress. The intervention is used in several hospitals.
Media interviews include The Guardian newspaper at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/16/doctors-turn-to-alcohol-food-and-drugs-to-cope-with-work-stress , the BBC at https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200331-how-to-eat-a-healthy-diet-when-work-from-home-coronavirus?ocid=global_worklife_rss , The Guardian newspaper at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/17/alarming-number-of-cancer-medics-suffering-burnout-and-stress and more e.g. The Times newspaper, British Medical Association news, The Conversation, Medical Health News, Medscape news, Medical Express, BBC radio, BBC South TV etc.
She is dedicated to taking science to the public in Psychology Today with her series about the Science of Mental Health reaching a quarter of a million readers, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/experts/caroline-kamau-phd and regularly topping the readership charts.
Co-inventor of the Working Stress board-game and app, www.workingstress.co.uk , an anti-stress intervention for doctors, nurses and other health staff used in many NHS hospitals, e.g. University Hospitals Birmingham, BARTS Health NHS Trust, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay, and the NHS Practitioner Health Programme, a service for doctors and dentists in distress.
Dr. Kamau has written about how science can build research impact in Nature, the highly prestigious journal ranked in the top 10 of all academic journals worldwide with millions of readers. Her research has an impact on academics, doctors, clinical staff and the public with altmetric "research attention" scores ranked in the top 5% in the world e.g. https://www.altmetric.com/details/57350793 and https://www.altmetric.com/details/60522049Research Centres and Institutes
- Academic, Centre for Medical Humanities
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I am a doctoral (PhD) and Master's (MSc) research supervisor.
Current doctoral researchers
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CAMELIA OANCEA
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Jaijee, S.K. and Kamau-Mitchell, Caroline and Mikhail, G.W. and Hendry, C. (2021) Sexism experienced by consultant cardiologists in the United Kingdom. Heart ISSN 1355-6037.
- Medisauskaite, Asta and Kamau, Caroline (2019) Does occupational distress raise the risk of alcohol use, binge-eating, ill health and sleep problems among medical doctors? A UK cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 9 (5), pp. e027362. ISSN 2044-6055.
- Kamau, Caroline (2019) Five ways media training helped me to boost the impact of my research. Nature 567, pp. 425-426. ISSN 0028-0836.
- Medisauskaite, Asta and Kamau, Caroline (2019) Reducing burnout and anxiety among doctors: randomized controlled trial. Psychiatry Research 274, pp. 383-390. ISSN 0165-1781.
- Lopes, B. and Kamau, Caroline and Jaspal, R. (2018) Coping with perceived abusive supervision in the workplace: the role of paranoia. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies ISSN 1548-0518. (In Press)
- Lopes, B. and Kamau, Caroline and Jaspal, R. (2018) The roles of socioeconomic status, occupational health and job rank on the epidemiology of different psychiatric symptoms in a sample of UK workers. Community Mental Health Journal 55 (2), pp. 336-349. ISSN 0010-3853.
- Medisauskaite, Asta and Kamau, Caroline (2017) Prevalence of oncologists in distress: systematic review and meta-analysis. Psycho-Oncology 26 (11), pp. 1732-1740. ISSN 1099-1611.
- Clements, A.J. and Kamau, Caroline (2017) Understanding students’ motivation towards proactive career behaviours through goal-setting theory and the job demands–resources model. Studies in Higher Education ISSN 0307-5079. (In Press)
- Kamau, Caroline (2017) Postpartum depression or psychosis and return to work. The Lancet Psychiatry 4 (2), pp. 96-97. ISSN 2215-0366.
- Kamau, Caroline (2017) Preparing patients with cancer who work and treatment responsiveness. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care 7 (1), pp. 94-97. ISSN 2045-435X.
- Kamau, Caroline (2016) Vulnerability of emergency surgery to the working conditions of new doctors. Bulletin of the Royal College of Surgeons 98 (8), pp. 354-357. ISSN 1473-6357.
- Medisauskaite, A. and Kamau, Caroline (2016) Guiding trainee pediatricians about how to cope with grief. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 37 (6), pp. 523-523. ISSN 0196-206X.
- Kamau, Caroline (2016) Is the NHS mental health service preparing clients to resume employment?. Psychiatric Services 67 (5), pp. 578-579. ISSN 1075-2730.
- Kamau, Caroline (2016) Corespondence: Is the NHS Mental Health Service preparing clients to resume employment?. Psychiatric Services 67 (5), pp. 578-579. ISSN 1075-2730.
- Kamau, Caroline and Spong, A. (2015) A student teamwork induction protocol. Studies in Higher Education 40 (7), pp. 1273-1290. ISSN 0307-5079.
- Medisauskaite, A. and Kamau, Caroline (2015) Are we preparing GP trainees for patient death?. British Journal of General Practice 65 (634), pp. 248. ISSN 0960-1643.
- Kamau, Caroline (2015) Should clinical experience be a precondition for a job in NHS management?. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 108 (4), pp. 120-121. ISSN 0141-0768.
- Kamau, Caroline and Medisauskaite, A. and Lopes, B. (2015) Inductions buffer nurses’ job stress, health and organizational commitment. Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health 70 (6), ISSN 1933-8244.
- Kamau, Caroline (2014) Outcomes of care programme approach, dual diagnosis, carer support and psychological therapy inductions. Psychiatric Bulletin 38 (4), pp. 172-174. ISSN 2053-4868.
- Kamau, Caroline (2014) Effects of experimental inductions for newly qualified doctors on competence at clinical procedures. Clinical Medicine 14 (4), pp. 380-385. ISSN 1470-2118.
- Kamau, Caroline and Medisauskaite, A. and Lopes, B. (2014) Orientations can avert psychosocial risks to palliative staff. Psycho-Oncology 23 (6), pp. 716-718. ISSN 1099-1611.
- Kamau, Caroline (2014) Systematic review of new medics’ clinical task experience by country. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Open 5 (5), ISSN 0141-0768.
- Kamau, Caroline (2014) Effects of shadowing and supervised on-the-job inductions on mental health nurses. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 21 (4), pp. 379-382. ISSN 1351-0126.
- Kamau, Caroline (2014) Systematic review of new medics' clinical task experience by country. JRSM Open 5 (5), ISSN 2054-2704.
- Kamau, Caroline (2013) What does being initiated severely into a group do? The role of rewards. International Journal of Psychology 48 (3), pp. 399-406. ISSN 0020-7594.
- Kamau, Caroline and Giner-Sorolla, R. and Zebel, S. (2013) Reconciliation responses, blame and expressions of guilt or shame. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 43 (S2), pp. E287-E292. ISSN 0021-9029.
- Kamau, Caroline (2013) A conversation with Professor Sir Simon Wessely. Wessex Psychologist Bulletin (8),
- Spong, A. and Kamau, Caroline (2012) Cross-cultural impression management: a cultural knowledge audit model. Journal of International Education in Business 5 (1), pp. 22-36. ISSN 2046-469X.
- Giner-Sorolla, R. and Kamau, Caroline and Castano, E. (2010) Guilt and shame through recipients’ eyes: the moderating effect of blame. Social Psychology 41 (2), pp. 88-92. ISSN 1864-9335.
Book
- Oancea, Camelia and Kamau, Caroline (2020) Organizational Psychology of mergers and acquisitions. Taylor & Francis / Routledge. ISBN 9781315747156.
- Berry, D. and Kamau, Caroline (2013) Public policy and media organization. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. ISBN 9781409402756.
- Berry, D. and Kamau, Caroline (2013) Public policy and media organizations. Farnham, UK: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9781409402756.
Book Section
- Kamau, Caroline (2012) On Erich Fromm: why he left the Frankfurt school. In: Berry, D. (ed.) Revisiting the Frankfurt School: Essays on Culture, Media and Theory. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. pp. 185-206. ISBN 9781409411802.
- Kamau, Caroline (2009) Strategising impression management in corporations: cultural knowledge as capital. In: Harorimana, D. (ed.) Cultural Implications of Knowledge Sharing, Management and Transfer: Identifying Competitive Advantage. Advances in Knowledge Acquisition, Transfer, and Management (AKATM) Book Series. Hershey, U.S.: Information Science Reference (IGI). pp. 60-83. ISBN 9781605667904.
Conference Item
- Oancea, C. and Kamau, Caroline (2014) Mergers and acquisitions: category salience in crossed-categorization contexts. Division of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference, 2014, Brighton
Monograph
- McDowall, Almuth and Teoh, Kevin and Stringer, Mark and Chatrakul Na Ayudhya, Uracha and Beauregard, T. Alexandra and MacKenzie-Davey, Kate and Lewis, Rachel and Yarker, Jo and Kamau, Caroline (2020) Organisations, race and trauma. London, UK: Department of Organizational Psychology.
Teaching Resource
- Kamau, Caroline and Spong, A. (2013) Student induction tools: Group contract and group log.
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Business and community
Business and community
I have media training.
Media
I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:
- Stress, burnout, sleep problems and work-related signs of distress among medical doctors
- Occupational distress within the NHS (e.g. doctors, nurses, clinicians)
- Mental disorders, mental health and workplaces
- Psychology and medical practice
- Any other relevant topic (see research)