People

Dr. Vicky Fallon

Dr Vicky Fallon is a Chartered Psychologist and Senior Lecturer within the Department of Psychology, at the University of Liverpool. She has expertise in reproductive and infant health psychology. Her primary research interests concern perinatal mental health and early infant development. In 2016, she conceptualised, developed, and validated the original 51-item English-language Postpartum Specific Anxiety Scale. She sits as Chief Investigator of the PSAS Working Group and oversees global translations and validations of the PSAS.

Mr Sergio A. Silverio

Sergio A. Silverio is the Chief Investigator for the PSAS in Europe and the MENA Region, Principal Investigator of the PSAS-RSF-C, and co-supervises the students working on the PSAS. He holds two Masters degrees in Psychological Sciences (Clinical and Health Psychology) and Psychological and Psychiatric Anthropology, from the University of Liverpool and Brunel University London, respectively. His NIHR-funded Doctoral work in Life Course Science Research is being undertaken at King’s College London. Sergio is a Charted Psychologist and internationally acclaimed qualitative research expert, and therefore focuses on the theoretical aspects of the PSAS, as well as the procedures for translation.

Miss Siân M. Davies

Siân M. Davies is a researcher based at Liverpool John Moores University working towards a PhD investigating fear of childbirth. Additionally, she is a Research Assistant within the Department of Women & Children’s Health, King’s College London and holds an honorary appointment in the Department of Psychology at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests fall within women’s and children’s health. In 2020, she developed and validated a 16-item short-form research tool of the PSAS. She has published and continues to work on a number of PSAS-related projects as part of her role within the PSAS UK Working Group.

Dr Paul Christiansen

Dr Paul Christiansen is a Senior Lecturer in statistics at the University of Liverpool. He has worked in a range of fields in Psychology and medicine publishing papers in addiction, appetite and obesity, forensic psychology, clinical psychology, health psychology and bowel disorders. He is particularly interested in psychometrics and has worked on creating reliable questionnaires for years, with the PSAS being one he has worked on developing for several years.

Miss Semra Worrall

Semra Worrall is a Doctoral Academic Teacher and PhD student at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests concern perinatal mental health, particularly in women who have given birth prematurely. Her Undergraduate and Master’s theses were the first to utilise the PSAS in mothers of premature infants. Her PhD will further build upon this work, using the PSAS. Semra has also collaborated on several PSAS-related projects, the latest of which explored the relevance and effective identification of the PSAS for use as a clinical tool.

Miss Elizabeth Harris

Elizabeth graduated from the University of Liverpool with an MSc in Research Methods in Psychology. As a Research Assistant within the PSAS UK Working Group, Elizabeth explored the views of key stakeholders within maternal mental healthcare, regarding clinically identifying, measuring, and targeting interventions for postpartum anxiety. Currently, Elizabeth works as a Research Assistant on a project exploring prevention of admissions to acute paediatric services for infants with feeding difficulties, and is also a Trainee Associate Psychological Practitioner in Knowsley Primary Care Network, delivering low-intensity psychological intervention.

Miss Olivia Pike

Olivia Pike is a Doctoral Academic Teacher and PhD student at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests concern postnatal mental health, particularly regarding the course of anxiety in the first year of motherhood. Her PhD will use the PSAS to assess how anxiety manifests during common parenting challenges throughout the postpartum period. Olivia has also recently conducted a systematic review which evaluated the psychometric properties and screening accuracy of the PSAS and its international and short-form versions.

UK Working Group