Professor Joy Duxbury

Professor Joy Duxbury leads a portfolio of applied mental health research that is changing policy and practice and making a real difference to people’s lives. Joy is a mental health nurse, professor of mental health and director of research for the Institute of Health at the University of Cumbria. She has worked on numerous funded projects pertaining to mental health including the exploration of service user perspectives and the implementation of organizational approaches. Her national and international focus has been upon minimizing restrictive practices across varied settings in the UK and globally. She is currently working with colleagues on an EU funded bid looking at ‘Fostering and Strengthening Approaches to Reducing Coercion in European Mental Health Services (FOSTREN) with a particular focus upon implementation approaches. Joy recently led on two large funded NIHR research projects: one exploring the experiences of Black Afro Caribbean Men who have been detained using the Mental Health Act and a second looking at restrictive interventions in LD settings using a realist lens and approach. Professor Duxbury has just been awarded an NIHR grant to begin in Dec 2024 called NEST: Recovery and Resilience Framework for Children in Care: A Realist Co-production Development Study. She is joint lead for this project with a colleague at Manchester University. Professor Duxbury works across a number of NIHR funded initiatives in Cumbria including the Cumberland Council HDRC, the NENC ARC and FUSE.

Joy has written extensively on this subject of mental health over the past 25 years and secured several large grants to examine coercion and social injustices using participatory and co-creation methods. She is regularly an invited speaker at national and international conferences and has held a number of visiting professor roles. As a result of her profile in this area, Joy was Chair of the European Violence in Psychiatry Research Group and currently remains a member. She is Trustee and Chair of a national charity called the Restraint Reduction Network and more recently was appointed as a Trustee for a local mental health charity called Growing Well. In recognition of her work, she was awarded the Eileen Skellern Award in 2014 and more recently an OBE in 2021.

2008 MA in Criminology and Social Policy Open University.
2006 PG Cert HE Research Supervision and Support UCLAN.
2003 PhD Faculty of Health, Lancaster University.
1993 Registered Nurse Teacher (ENB)
1993 BSc (Hon) Nursing Studies University of Hull, First Class
1986 Registered. Mental Health Nurse, Surrey.
1984 Registered General Nurse, Whiston Hospital, Liverpool

My research over the past 20 years has mostly focused on minimising restrictive practices such as physical restraint and coercion across health and social care, criminal justice and educational settings.  This combines a range of disciplines, ideologies and approaches in the exploration of mental health making significant global contributions to the field of mental health with experts by experience. This includes people with complex histories in inpatient and community services at different stages of their lives, carers and significant others. The scope of my work embraces human rights and social justice to understand the complexities and trauma associated with mental health.  I work within the community to make sense of these complex factors and the vast inequalities across health and social care provisions.

My research over the past 20 years has mostly focused on minimising restrictive practices such as physical restraint and coercion across health and social care, criminal justice and educational settings. This combines a range of disciplines, ideologies and approaches in the exploration of mental health making significant global contributions to the field of mental health with experts by experience. This includes people with complex histories in inpatient and community services at different stages of their lives, carers and significant others. The scope of my work embraces human rights and social justice to understand the complexities and trauma associated with mental health. I work within the community to make sense of these complex factors and the vast inequalities across health and social care provisions.

My expertise
I lead on:
• world-leading work on minimising restrictive interventions in mental health and related settings
• promoting nurse-led, trauma-informed care
• influencing practice and policy at a local and national level
• a strong emphasis on co-design and co-production and engaging experts by experience throughout the research process
• improvement-orientated methods that challenge cultural barriers and power imbalances by giving equal consideration to the experience of service users and service providers

Recent and current projects
Duxbury J Parry S Co Leads et al (2024) Recovery and Resilience Framework for Children in Care: A Realist Co-production Development Study NIHR £320, 000 The NEST Study NIHR funds new study to improve care for vulnerable children | NIHR
Duxbury J, Haines A et al (2022) SWAP UPLIFT to existing NIHR Grant amounting to an additional £ 43, 000 for a further 6 months Realist review of complex interventions to prevent & reduce the use of restrictive practices on people with learning disabilities in hospital settings Cost for full project in total £401, 806 Research: The LEARN Project | Manchester Metropolitan University
Haines A, Duxbury J (2022) Evaluation of the National HOPE(S) Programme to End Long Term Segregation (LTS) for People with Learning Disabilities and Autism Cost to funder NHS England Via Merseycare NHS Trust £159, 248 2 Year Project
Haines A & Duxbury J (2022) Project 514952: Models of care for people with learning disabilities and/or autism with forensic needs who require detention under MHA in secure settings: a mixed methods study. 2-year Project £196, 495.Funder Merseycare mental Health Trust
Duxbury et al 2021 NIHR PRP funded project aim at “Improving the experiences of Black African Caribbean men detained under the Mental Health Act: a co-produced intervention using the Silences Framework (ImprovE-ACT) £830, 000 (See report below). Research: Mental health act reform | Manchester Metropolitan University

Craig, E., Bergqvist, A., Brodrick, I., Heyes, K., Leah, C., Miller, E., Dixon, J., Thompson, K., Best D., King, C., Sewell, H., McLaren, R., Adebisi, J., Husain, N., Serrant, L., Jarred, T.,, Duxbury, J., & Haines-Delmont, A. (2024). Improving the Experiences of Black African Caribbean Men Detained Under the Mental Health Act: Co-Produced Policy and Practice Recommendations for Change and Reform (ImproveAct). Final Report. NIHR Policy Research Programme (NIHR201715). Manchester Metropolitan University.

Whittington R, Duxbury J et al (2024) Health & Medicine, Researchfeatures.com Minimising Coercion in Mental Health Care Requires European Wide Collaboration.

Kodua, M, Duxbury, J , Eboh, WO, Asztalos, L and Tweneboa, J (2023) Healthcare staff’s experiences of using manual physical restraint: a meta-synthesis review. Nursing and Health Sciences, 25 (3). pp. 271-289. ISSN 1441-0745.

Lantta, T., Duxbury, J., Haines-Delmont, A., Björkdahl, A., Husum, T.L., Lickiewicz, J., Douzenis, A., Craig, E., Goodall, K., Bora, C., Whyte, R., & Whittington, R. (2023). Models, frameworks and theories in the implementation of programs targeted to reduce formal coercion in mental health settings: a systematic review. Front Psychiatry 14:1158145. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1158145. Frontiers | Models, frameworks and theories in the implementation of programs targeted to reduce formal coercion in mental health settings: a systematic review (frontiersin.org)

Haines Delmont A, Tsang A, Duxbury J et al (2022) Approaches used to prevent and reduce the use of restrictive practices on adults with learning disabilities: Protocol for a realist review PLOS ONE 17(9), 1-12.

Haines-Delmont, A., Goodall, K., Duxbury, J., & Tsang, A. (2022). An evaluation of the implementation of a ‘No Force First ’informed organizational guide to reduce physical restraint in mental health and learning disability inpatient settings in the UK. Frontiers in psychiatry, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.749615.

Baker J, Kendal S, Duxbury J et al (2022) Mapping review of interventions to reduce the use of restrictive practices in children and young people's institutional settings: The CONTRAST Study. Children and Society 36 (6), pp. 1351-1401

Bracewell K, Jones C, Haines Delmont A, Craig E, Duxbury J & Chandler K (2022) Beyond Intimate Partner Relationships: Utilising Domestic Homicide Reviews to Prevent Adult Family Domestic Homicide, Journal of Gender Based Violence DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/239868021X16316184865237

Baker J, Berzins K, Canvin K, Benson I, Kellar I, Wright J, Duxbury J et al. (2021) Non-pharmacological interventions to reduce restrictive practices in adult mental health inpatient settings: the COMPARE systematic mapping review. Health Serv Deliv Res; 9(5)
Gire N, Caton N, McKeown M, Mohmed M Duxbury J et al (2021) Care co-ordinator in my pocket: A feasibility study of mobile assessment and therapy for psychosis (Techcare) BMJ Open doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046755 1

Hallett, N, Duxbury, J, McKee, T, Harrison, N, Haines, A, Craig, E and Anthony, J (2021) Taser use on individuals experiencing mental distress: An integrative literature review. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 28(1), pp 56-71

Riahi, S, Thomson, G and Duxbury, J (2020) A hermeneutic phenomenological exploration of ‘last resort’ in the use of restraint Int. J. Mental Health Nurse, 29, pp 1218-1229

Duxbury J, Baker J, Downe S, Jones F, Greenwood P, Thygesen H, et al. Minimising the use of physical restraint in acute mental health services: The outcome of a restraint reduction programme (‘REsTRAIN YOURSELF’). International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2019. 95:40-8.

Duxbury J et al (2019) Staff experiences and understandings of the REsTRAIN Yourself initiative to minimise the use of physical restraint on mental health wards." International Journal of Mental Health Nursing.

Cusack P, Cusack F, McAndrew S, McKeown M, Duxbury J (2018) An integrative review exploring the physical and psychological harm inherent in using restraint in mental health inpatient setting, International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27(3):1162-1176. doi: 10.1111/inm.12432.