Dr Christina Derksen, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Assistant in Health Psychology (CanDetect)
Email: christina.derksen@qmul.ac.uk
Profile
I hold a PhD in Psychology and joined the Centre of Prevention, Detection & Diagnosis at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in May 2023. My focus is on using quantitative and qualitative methods to develop and refine a Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) Platform to facilitate the detection of upper gastrointestinal cancers. I am a guest researcher for Health CASCADE, a Marie Skłodowska Curie Innovative Training Networks project for co-creative research funded by the European Union.
My training was at the University of Marburg (MSc in Clinical Psychology) and the Constructor University Bremen (PhD in Psychology), where I completed my PhD on behavioural influences on communication and patient safety in obstetric care. In my PhD research, I actively involved patients and the public in the development and evaluation of both live and mHealth interventions.
Research
Research Interests:
In my research, I use psychological and behavioural theories to understand determinants of health and illness such as illness perceptions, self-efficacy, and behavioural planning. An important part of my previous research has been the patient-provider relationship and communication to improve patient safety. I aim to overcome the gap between research and healthcare and thus also focus on implementation strategies, especially aiming to reduce inequalities in healthcare systems worldwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked on facilitating psychosocial support and digital interventions for patients suffering from post-acute COVID-19 syndromes.
I use co-creative and multi-method approaches such as quantitative surveys and randomized-controlled designs, but also qualitative interviews and focus groups to improve and adapt interventions. I am also interested in conducting systematic reviews. I aim to work in multidisciplinary teams to link changes in health behaviour and help-seeking to objective outcomes such as preventable adverse events.
Publications
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Gradwell NC, Ramasawmy M, Arora S et al. (publicationYear). Acceptability of Sharing Internet Browsing History for Cancer Research: Think-Aloud and Interview Study. nameOfConference
DOI: 10.2196/82009
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Lidington E, Stiles M, Maudsley J et al. (publicationYear). Establishing a set of acceptable demographic questions for use in health research through public consultation. nameOfConference
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Derksen C, Le Noury KA, Akbar AB et al. (2026). Why aren't they used? Systematic review of barriers to implementation of Clinical Decision Support Systems for early cancer detection in primary care. nameOfConference
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Gao L, Rinn R, Dahmen A et al. (2026). Online Screening to Detect Postacute/Long-COVID Syndrome. nameOfConference
QMRO: qmroHref -
Standen L, Aslam A, Curran R et al. (publicationYear). Can cognitive function tests discriminate between patients with glioma and healthy controls prior to treatment? A systematic review. nameOfConference
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Derksen C, Walter FM, Akbar AB et al. (publicationYear). The implementation challenge of computerised clinical decision support systems for the detection of disease in primary care: systematic review and recommendations. nameOfConference
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Toomey E, Coyne R, Derksen C et al. (2025). Adoption of the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines within health psychology and behavioural medicine journal policies: a cross-sectional study. nameOfConference
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Saunders TS, Virpal P, Andreou M et al. (2025). Diagnostic Risk Prediction Models for Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers: A Systematic Review. nameOfConference
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Hüner B, Vinayak AK, Schmiedhofer M et al. (2025). Cost effective analysis after patient communication training in obstetrics - Evaluating economic efficiency. nameOfConference
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Lubasch JS, Nordmann H, Voigt-Barbarowicz M et al. (publicationYear). Process evaluation of a co-design and implementation study to improve professional health literacy in a regional care hospital (PIKoG): a mixed-methods study. nameOfConference