About

I am a Lecturer in Psychology and in this role I teach a range of undergraduate modules in the BSc and Joint Honours Psychology programmes. I also contribute to some of the MSc programmes.

I am an active mixed-methods researcher and have varied research interests but at the core of most of my research is health and wellbeing.

Teaching responsibilities

I am a campus-based Lecturer and teach students at both undergraduate and master's level. I am Level 4 lead for the campus-based BSc Psychology programme and I also lead the Level 4 Skills and Careers in Psychology module. Across the academic year, I teach several core modules, I teach developmental psychology at Level 4 and Level 5 and both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Professional interests

I graduated from the University of Derby with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology in 2004 and with MSc in Health Psychology in 2006. I subsequently began my research career by undertaking research assistant posts within NHS and then relocated to Gloucestershire to take up a trainee health psychologist post. After five years of clinical and research work, I returned to Derby to take up research and teaching roles and in 2017 started my PhD studies which examined the acceptance of illness in Dialysis patients. I submitted my PhD thesis in January 2020 and took on my current post as a Lecturer in Psychology shortly after. 

Research interests

My research interests are predominantly focused on research associated with health psychology and wellbeing. I have conducted research exploring the quality of life in patients with coronary heart disease, I have been involved in researching compassionate approaches to weight loss maintenance and helped to set up a large-scale international weight management intervention. More recently I have been researching the impact of acceptance of illness and the impact on the quality of life for haemodialysis patients. I am continuing this research and have been a co-applicant on successful grants which hope to further this work. 

Membership of professional bodies

• Member of the British Psychological Society – Division of Health psychology

Recent conferences

Presentations

• Stalker, C., Elander, J., Mitchell, K., Taal, M. W., Selby, N., and Stewart, P, (2019)  What aspects of acceptance influence health-related quality of life in Haemodialysis patients? Division of Health Psychology Conference, Manchester,  10 July 2019 – Poster Presentation
• Stalker, C., Elander, J., Mitchell, K., Taal, M. W., Selby, N., and Stewart, P. (2019) The impact of acceptance of illness on quality of life outcomes for haemodialysis patients. UKKW conference 2019, Brighton, 4 June 2019 – Poster presentation
• Stalker, C., Elander, J., Mitchell, K., Taal, M. W., Selby, N., and Stewart, P. (2017) The role of Acceptance in Dialysis, East midlands doctoral conference, September 2017 - 3 minute Thesis presentation
• Duarte, C., Gilbert, P., Stalker, C., Catarino, F., Basran, J., Scott, S., ... and Stubbs, R. J. Emotion regulation, eating, weight and well-being (2015). In Effects of compassionate mind training on weight outcomes, depression, shame, self-criticism in participants attending Slimming World support groups, Compassionate Mind Foundations 4^th international conference, Manchester, 2015

Recent publications

• Fielding, C., Bramley, L., Stalker, C., Brand, S., Toft, S., and Buchanan, H. (2022). Patients’ experiences of cannulation of arteriovenous access for haemodialysis: A qualitative systematic review. The Journal of Vascular Access, 11297298211067630
• Elander, J., Kapadi, R., Danton, I., Louth, C., Selby, N. M., Taal, M. W., Stalker, C. and Mitchell, K. (2022). Adjustment and wellbeing among people with end-stage chronic kidney disease receiving in-centre haemodialysis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Kidney Care, 7(2), 70-79
• Danton, I., Kapadi, R., Elander, J., Louth, C., Selby, N. M., Taal, M. W., Stalker, C. and Mitchell, K. (2022). ‘I didn't have any option’: experiences of people receiving in-centre haemodialysis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Kidney Care, 7(3), 112-119
• Elander, J., Kapadi, R., Coyne, E., Taal, M. W., Selby, N. M., Stalker, C., and Mitchell, K. (2021). Using patient feedback to adapt intervention materials based on acceptance and commitment therapy for people receiving renal dialysis. BMC urology, 21(1), 1-11
• Stubbs, R. J., Duarte, C., Palmeira, A. L., Sniehotta, F. F., Horgan, G., Larsen, S. C., ... and Heitmann, B. L. (2021). Evidence-Based Digital Tools for Weight Loss Maintenance: The NoHoW Project. Obesity Facts, 14(3), 320-333
• Duarte, C., Gilbert, P., Stalker, C., Catarino, F., Basran, J., Scott, S., ... and Stubbs, R. J. (2019). Effect of adding a compassion-focused intervention on emotion, eating and weight outcomes in a commercial weight management programme. Journal of Health Psychology, 1359105319890019
• Scott, S. E., Duarte, C., Encantado, J., Evans, E. H., Harjumaa, M., Heitmann, B. L., ... and Matos, M. (2019). The NoHoW protocol: a multicentre 2× 2 factorial randomised controlled trial investigating an evidence-based digital toolkit for weight loss maintenance in European adults. BMJ Open, 9(9), e029425
• Stalker, C., Elander, J., Mitchell, K., Taal, M. W., Selby, N., and Stewart, P. (2018). What is acceptance, and how could it affect health outcomes for people receiving renal dialysis?. Health Psychology Update
• Duarte, C., Stubbs, J. R., Gilbert, P., Stalker, C., Catarino, F., Basran, J., ... and Morris, L. (2018). The Weight‐Focused Forms of Self‐Criticising/Attacking and Self‐Reassuring Scale: Confirmatory Factor Analysis and associations with control, loss of control of eating and weight in overweight and obese women. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
• Stalker, C., and Elander, J. (2015). Effects of a pain self-management intervention combining written and video elements on health-related quality of life among people with different levels of education. Journal of Pain Research, 8, 581–590. https://doi.org/10.2147/JPR.S85741
• Knibb, R. C., Barnes, C., and Stalker, C. (2016). Parental self‐efficacy in managing food allergy and mental health predicts food allergy‐related quality of life. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 27(5), 459-464