Dr Myfanwy Davies - Research Fellow

Myfanwy grew up in West Wales and returned to Cardiff following periods of living in England, Syria, Lebanon and France. She read English language and Literature at Oriel College, Oxford (1995- 1998) and remains interested in discourse and conversational analysis. Having worked as a librarian in at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Cambridge University, she became interested in the social, political and cultural dimensions of encounters between patients and clinicians. She went on to read Social Anthropology and to study Information Management. This took her into researching Somali women’s maternity information needs, and on to a doctorate on the social and cultural dimensions of maternity information exchanges between Arab Muslim women and London-based obstetricians, midwives and GPs (2001-2004). She was a freelance researcher developing funding bids and academic papers for Prof. Glyn Elwyn and Prof. Adrian Edwards (Cardiff University), while still living in France, before being appointed as an AWARD research fellow at Cardiff in February 2005. She maintains a close collaboration with Profs Elwyn and Edwards in developing interests in the cultural and social bases of shared decision making in clinical practice. Myfanwy is currently developing a programme of work on decision support HPV vaccination together with Prof Elwyn, Prof Alison Fiander and Prof Christopher Butler.

Myfanwy is a supervisor on two PhD projects and is lead supervisor on an MRC funded PhD studentship on HPV decision making among faith groups and across social classes to start in October 2007. She currently collaborates with Prof Helen Snooks, Prof. Ian Russell, Prof Glyn Elwyn, Prof. Laurence Moore and Prof Lesley Griffiths on the development of a framework for research and evaluation for the chronic conditions management strategy (CCM) to run from 2007-2012.

She is also currently working with Professor Alison Fiander (Chair of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Cardiff University) on a large scale HPV vaccine efficacy trial in West Africa. MD is advising on work on health beliefs regarding cancer, STIs and vaccines to be undertaken in conjunction with the trial. Professor Fiander has been invited to apply to the Gates foundation for funding. Additional projects include: working with Professor Adrian Edwards and Professor Glyn Elwyn (Cardiff University) on a study of conceptions of agency and autonomy in shared decision making; working with Professor Adrian Edwards, Professor Glyn Elwyn and Professor Alison Fiander on a bid for a decision aid and RCT on parental attitudes to HPV vaccination in the UK; working with Adrian Edwards, Glyn Elwyn, Alison Fiander, Gareth Williams and Chris Butler on a post-doctoral fellowship bid for in depth sociological work on HPV vaccine perceptions among parents in South Wales.

Myfanwy provides research advice on developing qualitative projects and publishing papers and is happy to work through the medium of Welsh or English.

Qualifications
• 2004 Middlesex University: PhD
• 2000 University of Sheffield: MSc. (dist.) Information Management
• 1998 Oxford University: MA (hons) English Language and Literature

Book Chapters

• Davies, M.M. & Papadopoulos, I. (2006) ‘Notions of Motherhood and the maternity needs of Arab Muslim women’ Book chapter in, I Papadopoulos (ed.) Transcultural Health and Social Care : The Development of Culturally Competent Practitioners.
• Davies, MM & Elwyn, G. Optional versus mandatory autonomy of patients in shared decision making. Book chapter in S. Buetow and Tim Kenealy (ed.) Ideological Debates in Family Medicine. Nova Science Publications, New York. Accepted June, 2006.

Reports

• Skidmore K, Davies M, Rix A, and Elwyn G, Evaluation of Referral Management Centre Pilots in Wales. May, 2006, Cardiff University and CRG Research Cardiff.
• Davies, M.M., MacBride-Stewart, S, Addis, S, Shepherd, M. ‘The health, social care and housing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older people: final report. March 31st 2006, Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff

Seminars and Presentations

• Motherhood in Migration: Arab Muslim women, storytelling and the information-giving encounter with London-based Maternity Services, Presentation given at Middlesex University Institute of Social Science Research, Summer Conference, 7th June, 2002.
• Location and Locality in Arab Muslim Women’s Narratives of Entering Motherhood in London, Seminar given at Middlesex University Research Centre for Transcultural Studies in Health Care, February, 2003.
• Cultural and Linguistic Barriers to Shared Decision Making: the case of Arab Women in British Maternity Services. Conference paper with I. Papadopoulos, presented at the policy forum on ‘Improving Maternity Services’, London, January 27th, 2005.
• Davies, M.M., Fleming, L. & Papadopoulos, I. “Creating new cultural borders: narratives of ‘home’ and maternity service use and the employment and education choices of young Moroccan women migrants in London”. Conference paper accepted for the conference on ‘Young People and Societies in Europe and Around the Mediterranean’, Marseilles, October 2005.
• ‘Information Provision and Access to Care Options in Maternity Services: The case of London-based GPs and Arab Muslim women’. Oral presentation. 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC), 8th July 2005.
• Davies, M.M., MacBride-Stewart, S, Addis, S, Shepherd, M. The health, social care and housing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older people: interim report. January 31st. Welsh Assembly Government, Health and Social Care Policy Leads, Cardiff
• Davies, M.M., MacBride-Stewart, S, Addis, S, Shepherd, M. ‘The health, social care and housing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older people: scoping study. South West Meeting of the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC), March 4th, Birmingham.
• Herding cats: demand management in Wales. Paper presented to the Health and Societies Group, Cardiff School of Social Science November 11th, 2006
• Davies, M.M.,Elwyn G. Thieves in the Temple? An approach to referral management from Wales. Paper presented to the Society for Academic Primary Care South West Regional Conference. Torquay, March 1st, 2007.
• Snooks, H; Davies, M; Evans, A; Russell, I. Chronic Conditions Management: Evaluation approaches. Presentation to CCM workshop, Parkway Hotel, Newport 19/06/07.
• Clumps and Vistas on the future: Clinicians’ perceptions of women’s embodiment and their preferred decisional role in maternity services at the Knowing / Unknowing Bodies Seminar, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University on Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th September
• Patient Decision making, culture control and exclusion: A narrative interview study with London based maternity clinicians at the BSA Medical Sociology Group, Thursday 6th – Saturday 8th September. Britannia Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool
• Addis S, Shepherd M, MacBride-Stewart S, Davies M. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Older People: Health and Social Care Needs: A Review. The 8th European Sociological Association Conference. Glasgow 2007.
• Davies, M. Developing Evaluation Plans: Research questions, routine data and collaboration. University of Glamorgan, 15/02/08