Jenelle Clarke

My research is broadly within health/mental health, health organisation, integrated working, public sector working, and their interface with culture, transformation and identity.  I am currently leading a project funded by The Healthcare Improvement Science Institute that explores everyday experiences of integrated working within children and adolescent and older people services.  Comprising four linked ethnographic work packages, the study will provide theoretical and practical insight for delivering patient-centred integrated care.  Key goals include: identifying patterns of social interaction facilitating trust and respect, developing an integrated working framework; generating a measure of emotional energy and co-producing learning resources for integrated teams and service users/carers. 

I have experience using sociological theories applied to health and mental health care. Through the use of interaction ritual theory within mental health during my doctoral work, I showed how negative feelings within groups of people may still produce trust and solidarity.  In my post-doctoral work, I developed a new model of successful research co-production highlighting the importance of relational and emotional inclusivity.  More recently, I am working with colleagues to expand theories of political astuteness through an NIHR grant exploring interpersonal politics and public sector change initiatives.   

More generally, I have research interests related to theories of microsociology applied to health and mental health, healthcare improvement initiatives, interaction rituals and sociology of emotions.