Background /personal summary
I am a consultant forensic psychiatrist working in a low secure mental health service with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. My research benefits and is inspired and shaped by the local population who use and work in the service. Patient and public involvement is a strong cross-cutting theme in my research.
Before moving to the North East, I completed a PhD in global health in Edinburgh where I studied the mental health and spirituality of women in a South American prison. I have also worked as commissioning clinical director for the North East and North Cumbria adult secure provider collaborative.
In my hospital, I am passionate about nurturing research champions and encouraging colleagues from all disciplines to be involved in research. I lead the Forensic Sleep Research Group which brings together patients, local clinicians and academics from York and Imperial.
Summary of research project
I have worked with colleagues to undertake a scoping review of sleep interventions used in mental health inpatient settings. They have developed a research proposal to improve sleep in hospital.
Areas of interest
- Patient and public involvement and engagement with research
- Sleep in hospital
- Forensic mental health
- Global mental health
- Scoping reviews
Recent or relevant publications
Aboaja, A. M., Dewa, L. H., Perry, A. E., Carey, J. F., Steele, R., Abdelsamie, A., … & Cairney, S. A. (2023). Sleep interventions for adults admitted to psychiatric inpatient settings: a systematic scoping review. medRxiv, 2023-03.
Beigel, L., Forrester, A., Torales, J., Aboaja, A., Rivera Aroyo, G., Roche, M. O. H., … & Mundt, A. P. (2023). Mental health intervention research in Latin American correctional settings: A scoping review. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 00207640231174372.
Aboaja, A., Pandurangi, P., Almeida, S., Castelletti, L., Rivera-Arroyo, G., Optiz-Welke, A., … & Barlow, S. (2023). Six nations: a clinical scenario comparison of systems for prisoners with psychosis in Australia, Bolivia and four European nations. BJPsych International, 20(1), 13-17.
Baker, H., Gill, S. S., Aboaja, A., Kole, S., & Perry, A. E. (2022). Study of Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Wellbeing of Staff Working in a Forensic Mental Health Service. Psych, 4(4), 695-705.
Aboaja, A., Wahab, A., Cao, Y. Y., O’Higgins, M., & Torales, J. (2022). Mental health in the republic of Paraguay. BJPsych International, 19(1), 10-12.
Aboaja, A., Atewogboye, O., Arslan, M., Parry-Newton, L., & Wilson, L. (2021). A feasibility evaluation of Discovery Group: determining the acceptability and potential outcomes of a patient-led research group in a secure mental health inpatient setting. Research Involvement and Engagement, 7, 1-10.
Aboaja, A., Forsyth, B., Bates, H., & Wood, R. (2021). Involving service users to identify research priorities in a UK forensic mental health service. BJPsych Bulletin, 45(6), 321-326.
Perry, A. E., Martyn‐St James, M., Burns, L., Hewitt, C., Glanville, J. M., Aboaja, A., … & Wright, K. (2019). Interventions for female drug‐using offenders. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (12).
Perry, A. E., Martyn‐St James, M., Burns, L., Hewitt, C., Glanville, J. M., Aboaja, A., … & Swami, S. (2019). Interventions for drug‐using offenders with co‐occurring mental health problems. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (10).
Get in touch
Email: [email protected]
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1738-5096