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Professor Rose McCabe

Professor of Clinical Communication

School of Health & Medical Sciences Department of Population Health and Policy

Contact details

About

Overview

Rose McCabe is Professor of Clinical Communication at City, University of London and co-Director of the Centre for Mental Health Research at City. She is an Honorary Professor in East London NHS Foundation Trust, Devon Partnership NHS Trust and Queen Mary, University of London. Her research focuses on understanding patient experience, professional-patient communication, the therapeutic relationship and developing interventions to improve communication, therapeutic relationships and outcomes of mental healthcare. Central to this work is involving people with lived experience in designing and evaluating new approaches to care. Key concepts of interest include agency, coercion, epistemic injustice, trust and engagement. She works across a range of issues (psychosis, self-harm, depression, dementia) and treatment settings (inpatient and community mental health care, emergency departments, primary care). She also works with community organisations and schools to improve mental health and wellbeing.

Qualifications

  • PhD, National University of Ireland, Ireland
  • B.A. Single Honours Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Employment

  • Co-director, Centre for Mental Health Research, City, University London, United Kingdom, February 2019 - present
  • Trustee of a Mental Health Charity, McPin Foundation, October 2018 - present
  • Honorary Professor, College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, October 2018 - present
  • Professor of Clinical Communication, City, University of London, UK, October 2018 - present
  • Honorary Professor, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, United Kingdom, September 2013 - present
  • Professor of Clinical Communication, University of Exeter, United Kingdom, September 2013 - September 2018
  • Honorary Professor, Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, April 2013 - present
  • Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London, U.K., October 2007 - October 2013

Memberships of committees

  • Member, The European Association for Communication in Healthcare
  • Member, The International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis

Research

The Assured Study

1 May 2019 - 31 Jan 2027
Improving outcomes in patients who self-harm - Adapting and evaluating a brief psychological intervention in Emergency Departments.

The SASH Study

1 May 2022 - 28 Feb 2026
A Psychological Intervention to Reduce Suicidal Behaviour in Adolescence.

THIS Institute Fellowship

1 Oct 2023 - 30 Sep 2026
Investigating mental health practitioners’ referral decisions to mental health services for people attending the Emergency Department for self-harm: A mixed methods enquiry

Schools solution focused programme

1 Apr 2023 - 31 Mar 2024
Co-designing a solution focused programme to promote mental wellbeing of students and staff in schools

Research students

1stsupervisor

2ndsupervisor

  • Liz Dudeney, Research Student

Publications

Publications by category

Chapters (4)

  • McCabe, R., Akubat, A., Bakou, A.E. and Long, M. (2025). ‘This magical lightbulb went off in my head’ – How training NHS staff in Solution Focused Practice can change the experience of people presenting in mental health crisis. Solution Focused Practice and Mental Health Crisis (pp. 44-54). Routledge.
  • Larkin, M., McCabe, R., Bortolotti, L., Broome, M., Craythorne, S.-.L., Temple, R.... Cottrell, J. (2025). Being Understood: Epistemic Injustice Towards Young People Seeking Support for Their Mental Health. Epistemic Justice in Mental Healthcare (pp. 1-22). Springer Nature Switzerland. ISBN 9783031688805.
  • Clift, R., Gardner, R., McCabe, R., Perakyla, A. and Potter, J. (2024). Conversation Analysis across Disciplines: Connecting and Engaging through Publishing. CAMBRIDGE HANDBOOK OF METHODS IN CONVERSATION ANALYSIS (pp. 895-921). ISBN 9781108947015.
  • Currie, C.C., Walburn, J., Hackett, K., McCabe, R., Sniehotta, F.F., O'Keeffe, S.... Araújo-Soares, V. (2022). Intervention Development for Health Behavior Change: Integrating Evidence and the Perspectives of Users and Stakeholders. Comprehensive Clinical Psychology (pp. 118-148). Elsevier. ISBN 9780128222324.

Conference papers and proceedings (8)

  • Dudeney, E., Coates, R., Ayers, S. and McCabe, R. Perinatal women's views and experiences of suicidality screening: A qualitative study exploring the acceptability of measures. .
  • Howes, C., Lavelle, M., Healey, P.G.T., Hough, J. and McCabe, R. Disfluencies in dialogues with patients with schizophrenia. .
  • Howes, C., Purver, M. and McCabe, R. (2014). Linguistic Indicators of Severity and Progress in Online Text-based Therapy for Depression. Proceedings of the Workshop on Computational Linguistics and Clinical Psychology: From Linguistic Signal to Clinical Reality June.doi:10.3115/v1/w14-3202
  • Healey, P.G.T., Lavelle, M., Howes, C., Battersby, S. and McCabe, R. How listeners respond to speaker's troubles. .
  • Howes, C., Purver, M., McCabe, R., Healey, P.G.T. and Lavelle, M. Predicting adherence to treatment for schizophrenia from dialogue transcripts. .
  • Priebe, S. and McCabe, R. The therapeutic relationship in psychiatric settings. .doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00721.x
  • Healey, P.G.T., Katagiri, Y. and McCabe, R. A Comparison of Graphics and Speech in a Task-Oriented Interaction. .
  • Healey, P.G.T., McCabe, R. and Katagiri, Y. A Comparison of Graphics and Speech in a Task-Oriented Interaction. .doi:10.1007/3-540-44590-0_23

Journal articles (160)

Patent

  • McCabe, R., Beauchamp, G.J., Hayes, A.G., Howes, C., Perks, B.A., Purver, M.R.... Bateup, S.E. Analysing text-based messages sent between patients and therapists.

Report

Professional activities

Collaborations (academic) (16)

Editorial activity (2)

  • BJPsych Advances, Editorial Board Member.
  • Research on Language and Social Interaction, Editorial Board Member.

Events/conferences (8)

  • Communication in mental health assessments with people presenting to the Emergency Department in a mental health crisis. (Public lecture) he Centre for Advanced Studies in Language & Communication (CASLC), University of York (2024).
  • Distinguished Speaker Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, National Speaker Programme. (Seminar) (2024).
    Paper: Words are the most powerful drug
  • University of Cambridge. (Seminar) Distinguished Speaker Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, National Speaker Programme (2024). Invited speaker.
    Paper: Words are the most powerful drug
  • Madness and Mental Health' Lecture Series. (Public lecture) Royal Institute of Philosophy (2024).
    Paper: How (not) to talk to young people about mental health
    Author: Rose McCabe.
    Co-authors: Lisa Bortolotti , Michele Lim
  • Research in Liaison Psychiatry. (Seminar) RCPsych Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry Conference. Royal College of Psychiatrists (2023).
    Paper: What next for liaison psychiatry research? Have your say!’
  • 29th British Isles Research Workshop on Suicide and Self-harm. (Workshop) University of Oxford. (2023).
    Paper: How do you ask someone if they are feeling suicidal? A micro-analysis of practitioner-patient communication
  • University of Cambridge Psychiatry seminar series. (Seminar) Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) (2023).
    Paper: Improving mental health care for self-harm
  • Social Work Conference, East London NHS Foundation Trust. (Conference) East London, UK. (2022).

Keynote lectures/speeches (16)

  • Communication and Epistemic Injustice in mental health assessments with people presenting to the Emergency Department in mental health crisis. Wolfson College, University of Oxford. (2024). 8th International Meeting on Conversation Analysis and Clinical Encounters (CA&CE 2024)
  • Communication in mental health care: A state-of-the-art review of conversation-analytic research Rose McCabe, Mariel Wuolio, Anssi Perakyla. Wolfson College: https://www.phc.ox.ac.uk/blog/transforming-healthcare-communication-at-the-eighth-international-meeting-on-conversation-analysis-and-clinical-encounters-2024 (2024). Transforming healthcare communication at the eighth International Meeting on Conversation Analysis and Clinical Encounters 2024
  • Therapeutic engagement, safety planning and the Assured study- evidence for psychosocial assessment in patients who self-harm and/or have suicidal ideation. East London NHS Foundation Trust (2023). Barts Academic Afternoon
  • Communicating a diagnosis of dementia. Dementias Online Workshop 2023. MA Healthcare. (2023). https://www.dementiasconference.com/dementiasonlineworkshop2023/en/page/programme
  • Facilitating Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) to have earlier conversations about hospice services. (2023). 06.11.2023-08.11.2023. ‘Thinking Differently’. Hospice UK National Conference.
  • Assessments of people with self-harm or suicidality in A&E: Reflections from Video-recordings, Interviews and Ethnography. University College London (2023). Psychoanalysis Unit Conference. ‘Personality Disorder: No Longer a Diagnosis of Exclusion.'
  • What next for liaison psychiatry research? Have your say! Royal College of Psychiatrists (2023). London and live streamed (eventsair) ’Research in Liaison Psychiatry.’
  • Words are the most powerful drug: Placebo and Nocebo Effects in Communication in Mental Health Care. University of Cambridge (2023).
  • Improving mental health care for self-harm. Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) (2023). University of Cambridge Psychiatry seminar series
  • Piloting a psychological intervention to support people attending the ED with self-harm: Findings from 4 EDs. ELFT Social Work Conference. North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare (2022). 70 attendees
  • Piloting a psychological intervention to support people attending the ED with self-harm: Findings from 4 EDs. Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry Conference, Royal College of Psychiatrists (2022). Past, Present and Future of Liaison Psychiatry. 70 attendees.
  • Piloting a psychological intervention to support people attending the ED with self-harm: Findings from 4 EDs. RCPsych Faculty of Liaison Psychiatry Conference (2022). 160 attendees.
  • Questions & Answers in Suicide Risk Assessment: A Conversation Analytic Perspective. Queen Mary University of London (2019). Keynote: SemDial 2019 - THE 23rd WORKSHOP ON THE SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS OF DIALOGUE
  • Communicating a Diagnosis of Dementia. East Midlands Conference Centre, Birmingham (2019). Royal College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Old Age Psychiatry Annual Scientific Meeting
  • Words are the most powerful drug. (2015). Inaugural Lecture
  • Nonverbal communication and film industry technology. Sidmouth Science Festival (2014).

Media appearances (2)

  • BBC Radio 4. (2019).
  • BBC Radio Cornwall. (2014).

Other

  • Independent Expert member of Trial Steering Committee , MRC Trial FOCUS (Feedback of Outcome to Users and Staff) .