Professor David Sheffield

About

I am a Professor of Psychology based in the School of Psychology. My work often focuses on health, well-being, and performance from a range of perspectives from epidemiology and interventions to psychophysiology and interviews. I supervise PhD and Doctorate students, and Masters and undergraduate students. I teach on the MSc Health Psychology, Behaviour Change and Psychology programmes, and the BSc Psychology.

Teaching responsibilities

MSc Health Psychology
MSc Behaviour Change
MSc Psychology
BSc (Hons) Psychology

Professional interests

I am a Registered Health Psychologist and have trained many students to be Health Psychologists (stage 1 and stage 2 training). I have supervised more than 30 students to successful PhD and Doctorate completions.

Research interests

I'm currently involved in 3 funded projects that focus on Choirs and Mental Health (ESRC), Increasing Social Prescribing 4 All (AHRC), and Connecting Trees and People for Well-being (NERC).

My board interests include:

Art and Health - singing, songs and music (and art more broadly too) and Social Prescribing
Pain and Pain Management in Patients, Athletes, and Healthy Adults
Cardiovascular Responses to Stress in healthy adults and patients with heart disease
Performing under Pressure - Challenge and Threat responses in athletes and others, and the yips
Nature Connectedness - correlates and interventions to increase how people relate to nature
Maths Anxiety - mechanisms and interventions

Membership of professional bodies

British Psychological Society (Chartered Psychologist)
Health Professions Council (Health Psychologist)

Qualifications

Undergraduate qualifications

BA (Hons) Psychology, University of Nottingham

Research qualifications

PhD Psychology, Glasgow Caledonian University

Recent conferences

European Conference on Environmental Psychology 2023, Lillehammer, Norway
Paths for All 2022, Glasgow, Scotland

Experience in industry

Research posts

Center for Environmental Medicine and Lung Biology, University of North Carolina: Psychology Stress and Exercise Induced Ischemia, July 1995 - June 1996

International experience

I worked in the USA for 6 years before returning to the UK in 2001. I have collaborators in Europe, USA, Japan, Korea and Africa.

In the media

Interviews with the Guardian and Daily Mail newspapers, and Radio Derby.

Recent publications

Sheffield, D., Butler, C. W., & Richardson, M. (2022). Improving Nature Connectedness in Adults: A Meta-Analysis, Review and agenda. Sustainability, 14(19), 12494
Sheffield, D., & Irons, J. Y. (2021). Songs for health education and promotion: a systematic review with recommendations. Public Health, 198, 280-289
Sheffield, D., Thornton, C., & Jones, M. V. (2020). Pain and athletes: Contact sport participation and performance in pain. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 49, 101700
Kotera, Y., Richardson, M., & Sheffield, D. (2022). Effects of shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) and nature therapy on mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 20(1), 337-361
Choe, E. Y., Jorgensen, A., & Sheffield, D. (2021). Examining the effectiveness of mindfulness practice in simulated and actual natural environments: Secondary data analysis. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 66, 127414
Keenan, R., Lumber, R., Richardson, M., & Sheffield, D. (2021). Three good things in nature: a nature-based positive psychological intervention to improve mood and well-being for depression and anxiety. Journal of Public Mental Health
Chircop, J., Sheffield, D., & Kotera, Y. (2021). Systematic Review of Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes. Nursing research, 70(6), 487-497
Cross, A., Naughton, F., & Sheffield, D. (2021). What is the role of stress cardiovascular reactivity in health behaviour change? A systematic review, meta-analysis and research agenda. Psychology & Health, 36(9), 1021-1040
Hearn, J. H., Finlay, K. A., & Sheffield, D. (2021). ‘Trying to bring attention to your body when you’re not sure where it is’: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of drivers and barriers to mindfulness for people with spinal cord injury. British Journal of Health Psychology, 26(1), 161-178
Irons, J. Y., Garip, G., Cross, A. J., Sheffield, D., & Bird, J. (2020). An integrative systematic review of creative arts interventions for older informal caregivers of people with neurological conditions. PloS one, 15(12), e0243461
Pritchard, A., Richardson, M., Sheffield, D., & McEwan, K. (2020). The relationship between nature connectedness and eudaimonic well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(3), 1145-1167
Choe, E. Y., Jorgensen, A., & Sheffield, D. (2020). Does a natural environment enhance the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)? Examining the mental health and wellbeing, and nature connectedness benefits. Landscape and Urban Planning, 202, 103886
Safari, R., Jackson, J., & Sheffield, D. (2020). Digital self-management interventions for people with osteoarthritis: systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of medical Internet research, 22(7), e15365
Meijen, C., Turner, M., Jones, M. V., Sheffield, D., & McCarthy, P. (2020). A theory of challenge and threat states in athletes: A revised conceptualization. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 126
Cameron, R. W., Brindley, P., Mears, M., McEwan, K., Ferguson, F., Sheffield, D., ... & Richardson, M. (2020). Where the wild things are! Do urban green spaces with greater avian biodiversity promote more positive emotions in humans?. Urban ecosystems, 23(2), 301-317
McEwan, K., Richardson, M., Brindley, P., Sheffield, D., Tait, C., Johnson, S., ... & Ferguson, F. J. (2020). Shmapped: development of an app to record and promote the well-being benefits of noticing urban nature. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 10(3), 723-733
Clarke, P., Sheffield, D., & Akehurst, S. (2020). Personality predictors of yips and choking susceptibility. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2784
Maratos, F. A., & Sheffield, D. (2020). Brief compassion-focused imagery dampens physiological pain responses. Mindfulness, 11, 2730-2740
Batashvili, M., Staples, P., Baker, I. S., & Sheffield, D. (2020). The neurophysiological relationship between number anxiety and the EEG gamma-band. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 32(5-6), 580-585
Irons, J. Y., Hancox, G., Vella-Burrows, T., Han, E. Y., Chong, H. J., Sheffield, D., & Stewart, D. E. (2021). Group singing improves quality of life for people with Parkinson’s: an international study. Aging & mental health, 25(4), 650-656
McEwan, K., Richardson, M., Sheffield, D., Ferguson, F. J., & Brindley, P. (2019). A smartphone app for improving mental health through connecting with urban nature. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(18), 3373
Dunne, S., Sheffield, D., & Chilcot, J. (2018). Self-compassion, physical health and the mediating role of health-promoting behaviours. Journal of health psychology, 23(7), 993-999
Lumber, R., Richardson, M., & Sheffield, D. (2017). Beyond knowing nature: Contact, emotion, compassion, meaning, and beauty are pathways to nature connection. PLoS one, 12(5), e0177186