Emily Hayward
Research Assistant
Profile
Biography
Emily Hayward is a Research Assistant in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, with extensive experience in child and adolescent mental health research. Her work focuses on the development, evaluation, and implementation of psychological interventions to improve outcomes for children, young people, and families.
Emily has worked across a range of presenting difficulties, including depression, anxiety, and specific phobias, and with diverse populations such as deaf children and young people and infants. She has contributed to large-scale NIHR- and MRC-funded studies, including randomised controlled trials and feasibility studies of behavioural and cognitive interventions.
Her research interests include improving the accessibility and acceptability of mental health interventions, and the development and adaptation of assessment and diagnostic tools for use in diverse populations.
Qualifications
- 2014 BSc Psychology (Hons) - York St John University
Research
Overview
Emily’s research centres on child and adolescent mental health, with a focus on developing, evaluating, and implementing evidence-based psychological interventions. She has methodological expertise in qualitative research, evidence synthesis, and mixed-methods approaches, and is particularly interested in ensuring that interventions are accessible, acceptable, and effective across diverse populations.
Her work spans clinical trials, feasibility studies, and systematic reviews, with an emphasis on translating research into practice to improve mental health services and outcomes.
Projects
- Self-Esteem Intervention Development for Adolescents
- Behavioural Activation for Young people with depression in specialist child and adolescent mental health services (BAY)
- Community-based Behavioural Activation Training for Depression in Adolescents (ComBAT)
- Alleviating Specific Phobias Experienced by Children Trial (ASPECT)
- Diagnostic Instruments for Autism in Deaf children’s Study (DIADS)
- Baby+Me Study
Research group(s)
Publications
Selected publications
Tindall, L., Hayward, E., Li, J., Kerrigan, P., Metcalfe, S., & Gega, L. (2025). Community-based behavioural activation for depression in adolescents: feasibility study, survey and stakeholder consultations. Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 4, 1596294.
Tindall, L., Kerrigan, P., Li, J., Hayward, E., & Gega, L. (2024). Is behavioural activation an effective treatment for depression in children and adolescents? An updated systematic review and meta-analysis. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 33(12), 4133-4156.
Larkin, F., Oostenbroek, J., Lee, Y., Hayward, E., Fernandez, A., Wang, Y., Mitchell, A., Y Li, L & Meins, E. (2024). A smartphone app effectively facilitates mothers' mind-mindedness: A randomized controlled trial. Child Development, 95(3), 831-844.
Wright, B., Tindall, L., Scott, A.J., Lee, E., Cooper, C., Biggs, K., Bee, P., Wang, H.I., Gega, L., Hayward, E., Solaiman, K., Teare, D., Davis, T., Wilson, J., Lovell, K., McMillan, D., Barr, A., Edwards, H., Lomas, J., Turtle, C., Parrott, S., Teige, C., Chater, T., Hargate, R., Ali, S., Parkinson, S., Gilbody, S. & Marshall, D. (2023). One session treatment (OST) is equivalent to multi‐session cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in children with specific phobias (ASPECT): results from a national non‐inferiority randomized controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 64(1), 39-49.
Hayward, E., Solaiman, K., Bee, P., Barr, A., Edwards, H., Lomas, J., Tindall, L., Scott, A., Biggs, K. & Wright, B. (2022). One-session treatment for specific phobias: Barriers, facilitators and acceptability as perceived by children & young people, parents, and clinicians. PLOS One, 17(9), e0274424.
Phillips, H., Wright, B., Allgar, V., McConachie, H., Sweetman, J., Hargate, R., Hodkinson, R., Bland, M., George, H., Hughes, A., Hayward, E., Fernandez Garcia De Las Heras, V., & Le Couteur, A. (2022). Adapting and validating the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule Version 2 for use with deaf children and young people. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 52(2), 553-568.
Hamilton, L. G., Mesa, S., Hayward, E., Price, R., & Bright, G. (2017). ‘There’s a lot of places I’d like to go and things I’d like to do’: the daily living experiences of adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities during a time of personalised social care reform in the United Kingdom. Disability & Society, 32(3), 287-307.