Professor Nicki O'Brien

Professor

School: Psychology

Nicki is a Professor in the School of Psychology. She is a Health Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council, and a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Nicki’s research focuses on developing and evaluating complex interventions that are designed to make a demonstrable contribution to the promotion of individual, population and global health. Her work includes lifestyle-based interventions for primary and secondary prevention of chronic conditions, animated health behaviour change messages, and community pharmacy supported interventions. Nicki leads the Health Behaviour and Behaviour Change Research group at Northumbria.

Nicki is a Visiting Researcher at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Heidelberg University in Germany.

Nicki uses quantitative and qualitative research methods, and has particular experience in intervention co-design; n-of-1 methods; systematic reviewing and meta-analysis; and randomised and pragmatic trials. Her work has been funded by NIHR, MRC, ESRC, Versus Arthritis, Lewy Body Society, Department of Health and the Cabinet Office.

Nicki is an experienced postgraduate supervisor and is registered as an Applied Psychology Practice Supervisor. If you are would like to discuss potential supervision of a PhD or Stage 2 Health Psychology training, please get in touch.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Global health and behaviour change
'Languageless' animated health communication
N-of-1 (single case) methodology
Digital and blended (digital + human) health behaviour change interventions
Community pharmacy supported interventions for chronic health conditions
Physical activity behaviour change
Arthritis and musculoskeletal health
Intervention co-design with stakeholders

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Evaluating a neonatal public health education and empowerment programme to reduce infant mortality risks: insights from parents and facilitators in the midlands, UK, Olakotan, O., Atiku, S., Maniatopoulos, G., O'Brien, N., Pillay, T. 22 Jul 2026, In: Frontiers in Global Women's Health
Recognizing the importance of design, content, and delivery features of health animations for preventive health behaviors: a realist review, McCorry, K., Maniatopoulos, G., Errington, L., Land, E., Craig, M., Vijaykumar, S., Bärnighausen, T., O'Brien, N. 23 Apr 2026, In: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Facilitators and barriers to engaging in expressive writing among health and social care professionals, Smith, M., Hoult, L., Rippon, D., O’Brien, N., Branley-Bell, D., Byrne-Davis, L., Collins, C., Gallagher, S., Kinman, G., Mark, A., O’Connor, D., Vedhara, K., Williams, G., Wetherell, M. 25 Aug 2025, In: PLoS One
Research Design: Overview and Recommendations: Overview and recommendations, O'Brien, N. 29 Jan 2025, The Routledge International Handbook of Health Psychology, London, Routledge
The Role of Healthy Relationships and Social Connectivity in the Mediterranean Lifestyle: An Umbrella Review of Reviews, Yaman‐Dent, G., Dent, G., Lawson, R., Maycroft, H., Figueroa, C., Erringto, L., O'Brien, N., Symington, E., Frates, B., Maniatopoulos, G., Johnson, A., Telinga, A., Birrell, F. Oct 2025, In: Lifestyle Medicine
Animations to communicate public health prevention messages: a realist review protocol, McCorry, K., Maniatopoulos, G., Errington, L., Land, E., Craig, M., Vijaykumar, S., Bärnighausen, T., O'Brien, N. 9 Aug 2024, In: BMJ Open
Co-development and testing of an extended community pharmacy model of service delivery for managing osteoarthritis: protocol for a sequential, multi-methods study (PharmOA), Babatunde, O., Cottrell, E., White, S., Chudyk, A., Healey, E., Edwards, J., Nicholls, E., O’Brien, N., Todd, A., Walker, C., Stanford, C., Cork, T., Long, A., Simkins, J., Mallen, C., Dziedzic, K., Holden, M. 12 Jan 2024, In: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Defining the Traditional Mediterranean Lifestyle: Joint International Consensus Statement, Sidossis, L., Lawson, R., Aprilakis, E., Barata, B., Baska, A., Beneka, A., Bird, R., Birrell, F., Chatzinikola, C., Chondronikola, M., Chrousos, G., Conduit, R., Constantinou, C., de Courten, B., Cvejic, J., Davis, A., Demetriou, C., Errington, L., Feehan, J., Figueroa, C., Flynn, M., Frates, B., Kabthymer, R., Karagounis, L., Karimi, L., Kennedy, G., Kolokotroni, O., Korovljev, D., Kouris‐Blazos, A., Kushkestani, M., Kyriakides, T., Hutanu, E., Mosquera, M., Nikiphorou, E., O'Brien, N., Philippou, E., Piątek, K., Poole, S., Popescu‐Spineni, D., Radd‐Vagenas, S., Sidossis, A., Simonis, M., Soultanakis, H., Telinga, A., Tierney, A., Tkacz, A., Vlachopoulos, D., Yaman‐Dent, G., Yap, Y., Zervides, Z., Itsiopoulos, C. 1 Oct 2024, In: Lifestyle Medicine
Exploring the potential extended role of community pharmacy in the management of osteoarthritis: A multi‐methods study with pharmacy staff and other healthcare professionals, Simkins, J., Holden, M., Babatunde, O., White, S., Nicholls, E., Long, A., Dziedzic, K., Chudyk, A., Todd, A., Walker, C., Stanford, C., Cottrell, E., Edwards, J., Healey, E., Cork, T., Mallen, C., O’Brien, N. 7 Mar 2024, In: Musculoskeletal Care
Facilitators and barriers to engaging in expressive writing among health and social care professionals, Smith, M., Hoult, L., Rippon, D., O'Brien, N., Branley-Bell, D., Byrne-Davis, L., Collins, C., Gallagher, S., Kinman, G., Mark, A., O'Connor, D., Vedhara, K., Wetherell, M. 28 Oct 2024

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Development and implementation of support for pharmacists to delier integrated primary care for osteoarthritis, O'Brien, N. (Principal Investigator), National Institute for Health Research, 01/11/21 - 31/10/23, £10,480.00
The influene of culture, religion and identity for patients from BAME background in accessing medicines review services, O'Brien, N. (Principal Investigator), National Institute for Health Research, 01/03/21 - 31/08/21, £1,091.00
Evaluation of TILL Phase 2 (transfer in), O'Brien, N. (Principal Investigator), Swansea University, 01/06/20 - 31/07/20, £5,198.00
Interventions in community organisations to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities, O'Brien, N. (Principal Investigator), National Institute for Health Research, 23/04/19 - 31/10/20, £8,944.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Membership of committee: National Institute of Health and Care Research Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship Selection Committee (External organisation) 2024
Membership of committee: The British Psychological Society (External organisation) 2022
Editorial work: Frontiers in Health Services (Journal) 2021
Editorial work: Lifestyle Medicine (Journal) 2021
Membership of committee: National Institute of Health and Care Research Pre-doctoral Local Authority Fellowship (External organisation) 2021
Membership of committee: HEE-NIHR Integrated Clinical and Practitioner Academic Programme Selection Committee (External organisation) 2020
Editorial work: British Journal of Health Psychology (Journal) 2012

PGR Supervision

Colin Stephenson Exploring the impact and potential scalability of a group consultation, social prescribing intervention to tackle patient frequent appointment attendance in NHS primary care services. Start Date: 01/01/2023
Angela Long “They’re pushing people towards pharmacy”: An exploration of community pharmacy’s role in the management of musculoskeletal conditions Start Date: 01/04/2021 End Date: 12/03/2025

Further Information

Current PhD supervision:

David Bourne. Chronic pancreatitis: towards a comprehensive, patient-centred, evidence-based model of nutritional care. NIHR Clinical Doctoral Fellowship

Beckie Gibson. Understanding persuasive effects of message framing for vaccination uptake in university students. Northumbria Doctoral Studentship

Chris Penlington. Persistent pain and self-management for orofacial pain. Newcastle University

Colin Stephenson. Exploring the impact and potential scalability of a group consultation, social prescribing intervention to tackle patient frequent appointment attendance in NHS primary care services. Northumbria Doctoral Studentship

Katie McCorry. Animations to reduce ultra processed food (UPF) consumption and increase food literacy and the development of a tool to evaluate health animations: exploring everyday experiences of nutrition-related behaviours. Heidelberg Institute of Global Health.

Qualifications