Staff Profile

Katie is Professor of Applied Health Research & Ageing in the Population Health Sciences Institute. Katie is a social gerontologist with an educational background in sociology. This has enabled her to pursue her research interests in the social impact that illness can have on the lives of older people. During her time as an applied health researcher Katie has researched and published widely around the impact of ill health on older people and their carers. More recently her work has focused around how aspects of the physical, social and technological environment pose challenges and opportunities for older people and their wider community.

Current research:



Healthy Ageing Policy Research Unit (HAPRU), NIHR. 2024-2028, Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator, Professor Barbara Hanratty, Newcastle University).

Northern Health Futures Hub (NortHFutures), EPSRC, October 2023-September 2026, Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator, Professor Abi Durrant and Professor David Kirk, Newcastle University).

 

Measuring what matters – in whom it matters – ensuring diversity and equity in Parkinson’s disease research and care, Michael J Fox Foundation. January 2023-December 2024, Principal Investigator.

 

Intersecting social relations of care: An ethnographic and interview study with South Asian people ageing in place with dementia, NIHR Three School’s Dementia Research programme. May 2024-July 2026, Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator, Dr Kate Gibson, Newcastle University).

DIALOGUE: Digital care technologies for social connection, care and support of older adults, NIHR HTA Programme, January 2023-December 2024, Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator, Dr Grant Gibson, Stirling University).

Ageing in Place successfully: exploring factors which facilitate and hinder independent living with age, Legal and General Group PLC, 2021-2025, Co-Investigator (Principal Investigator, Professor Louise Robinson, Newcastle University). 

• Articles

  • Wilson-Menzfeld G, Erfani G, Young-Murphy L, Charlton W, De Luca H, Brittain K, Steven A. Identifying and understanding digital exclusion: a mixed-methods study. Behaviour and Information Technology 2025, 44(8), 1649-1666.
  • Gibson K, Brittain K, McLellan E, Kingston A, Wilkinson H, Robinson L. ‘It’s where I belong’: what does it mean to age in place from the perspective of people aged 80 and above? A longitudinal qualitative study (wave one). BMC Geriatrics 2024, 24(1), 524.
  • Gibson K, Kingston A, McLellan E, Robinson L, Brittain K. "Successful" ageing in later older age: a sociology of class and ageing in place. Social Science & Medicine 2024, 358, 117258.
  • Gibson K, Brittain K. The domestication of remote monitoring: The materialisation of care?. Journal of Aging Studies 2023, 67, 101168.
  • Brittain K, Degnen C. Living the everyday of dementia friendliness: navigating care in public spaces. Sociology of Health & Illness 2022, 44(2), 416-431.
  • Davies LE, Brittain K, Wilkinson H, Lewis S, Robinson L, Kingston A. Describing transitions in residential status over 10 years in the very old: results from the Newcastle 85+ Study. Age and Ageing 2022, 51(3), 1-5.
  • Standing H, Patterson R, Lee M, Dalkin S, Lhussier M, Exley C, Brittain K. Information sharing challenges in end-of-life care: a qualitative study of patient, family and professional perspectives on the potential of an Electronic Palliative Care Co-ordination System. BMJ Open 2020, 10(10), e037483.
  • Standing H, Patterson R, Dalkin S, Exley C, Brittain K. A critical exploration of professional jurisdictions and role boundaries in inter-professional end-of-life care in the community. Social Science and Medicine 2020, 266, 113300.
  • Gibson G, Dickinson C, Brittain K, Robinson L. Personalisation, customisation and bricolage: how people with dementia and their families make assistive technology work for them. Ageing and Society 2019, 39(11), 2502-2519.
  • Patterson R, Standing H, Lee M, Dalkin S, Lhussier M, Exley C, Brittain K. Paramedic information needs in end-of-life-care: a qualitative interview study exploring access to shared electronic records as a potential solution. BMC Palliative Care 2019, 18, 108.
  • Maniatopoulos G, Hopkins C, Joyce TJ, Brittain K. Framing the failure of medical implants: Media representations of the ASR hip replacements in the UK. Health Expectations 2019, 22(3), 518-527.
  • Lawson RA, Collerton D, Taylor JP, Burn DJ, Brittain KR. Coping with cognitive impairment and Parkinson’s disease: perspectives from patients and carers. Parkinson's Disease 2018, 2018, 1362053.
  • Stocker R, Bamford C, Brittain K, Duncan R, Moffatt S, Robinson L, Hanratty B. Care home services at the vanguard: stakeholder views on the development and evaluation of novel, integrated approaches to enhancing health care in care homes. BMJ Open 2018, 8, e017419.
  • Brittain K, Degnen C, Gibson G, Dickinson C, Robinson AL. When walking becomes wandering: representing the fear of the fourth age. Sociology of Health and Illness 2017, 39(2), 270-284.
  • Wiblin L, Durcan R, Lee M, Brittain K. The Importance of Connection to Others in QoL in MSA and PSP. Parkinson's Disease 2017, 2017, 5283259.
  • Brittain KR, Kingston A, Davies K, Collerton J, Robinson AL, Kirkwood T, Bond J, Jagger C. An investigation into the patterns of loneliness and loss in the oldest old – Newcastle 85+ Study. Ageing and Society 2017, 37(1), 39-62.
  • Gibson G, Newton L, Pritchard G, Finch T, Brittain K, Robinson L. The provision of assistive technology products and services for people with dementia in the United Kingdom. Dementia 2016, 15(4), 681-701.
  • Newton L, C Dickinson, G Gibson, K Brittain, AL Robinson. Exploring the views of GPs, people with dementia and their carers on assistive technology: a qualitative study. BMJ Open 2016, 6(5), e011132.
  • Gibson G, Dickinson C, Brittain K, Robinson L. The everyday use of assistive technology by people with dementia and their family carers: a qualitative study. BMC Geriatrics 2015, 15, 89.
  • Lie M, Lindsay S, Brittain K. Technology and trust: older people's perspectives of a home monitoring system. Ageing and Society 2015, 36(07), 1501-1525.
  • Vines J, Pritchard G, Wright PC, Olivier P, Brittain K. An Age-Old Problem: Examining the Discourses of Ageing in HCI and Strategies for Future Research. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) 2015, 22(1), 2.
  • Pritchard GW, Brittain K. Alarm pendants and the technological shaping of older people's care: Between (intentional) help and (irrational) nuisance. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2015, 93, 124-132.
  • Bamford C, Poole M, Brittain K, Chew-Graham K, Fox C, Iliffe S, Manthorpe J, Robinson L, the CAREDEM team. Understanding the challenges to implementing case management for people with dementia in primary care in England: a qualitative study using Normalization Process Theory. BMC Health Services Research 2014, 14, 549.
  • Iliffe S, Waugh A, Poole M, Bamford C, Brittain K, Chew-Graham C, Fox C, Katona C, Livingston G, Manthorpe J, Steen N, Stephens B, Hogan V, Robinson L, CAREDEM Research Team. The effectiveness of collaborative care for people with memory problems in primary care: results of the CAREDEM case management modelling and feasibility study. Health Technology Assessment 2014, 18(52).
  • Iliffe S, Robinson AL, Bamford C, Waugh A, Fox C, Livingstone G, Manthorpe J, Stephens B, Brittain K, Chew-Graham C, Katona C. Introducing case management for people with dementia in primary care: a mixed-methods study. British Journal of General Practice 2014, 64(628), e735-e741.
  • Vines V, Lindsay S, Pritchard G, Lie M, Greathead D, Olivier P, Brittain K. Making family care work: dependance, privacy and remote home monitoring tele care systems. Proceedings of the 2013 ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing (UbiComp '13) 2013, 607-616.
  • Robinson L, Brittain KR, Lindsay S, Jackson D, Olivier P. Keeping In Touch Everyday (KITE) project: developing assistive technologies with people with dementia and their carers to promote independence. International Psychogeriatrics 2009, 21(3), 494-502.
  • Brittain KR, Shaw C. The social consequences of living with and dealing with incontinence-A carers perspective. Social Science and Medicine 2007, 65(6), 1274-1283.
  • Robinson L, Hutchings D, Corner L, Finch T, Hughes J, Brittain K, Bond J. Balancing rights and risks: Conflicting perspectives in the management of wandering in dementia. Health, Risk and Society 2007, 9(4), 389-406.

• Book Chapters

  • Degnen C, Brittain K. Baby Seals and Armless Robots: Is This What Care in Later Life Is Made Of?. In: Douglas C; Whitehouse A, ed. More-Than-Human Aging: Animals, robots, and care in later life. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2024.
  • Brittain KR, Corner L, Robinson AL, Bond J. Ageing in place and technologies of place: the lived experience of people with dementia in changing social, physical and technological environments. In: Joyce, K., Loe, M, ed. Technogenarians: Studying Health and Illness Through an Ageing, Science, and Technology Lens. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp.97-111.