Aleksandra (Ola) Borek

I am a postdoctoral researcher with social sciences background conducing research on health-related behaviour change. I currently work as a qualitative researcher in the Infectious Diseases Research Group on the ‘Improving the uptake and SusTainability of Effective interventions to promote Prudent antibiotic Use in Primary care’ (STEP-UP) study. The study aims to accelerate the uptake and improve sustainability of interventions to improve antibiotic prescribing in general practices, and I use qualitative methods to better understand mechanisms of action of how such interventions work.

My background is in Sociology and Social Research Methods (University of York) and, more recently, health psychology and behaviour change. In my PhD (University of Exeter Medical School) I investigated how group-based behaviour-change interventions work by focusing on interpersonal, social change processes in weight loss and diabetes prevention groups. I explored this topic further in the ‘Mechanisms of Action in Group-based Interventions’ (MAGI) study and when developing a group-based, peer-support intervention to promote health and wellbeing of parent carers of children with disabilities and additional needs (Healthy Parent Carers programme) in the Peninsula Cerebra Research Unit (PenCRU) at the University of Exeter Medical School. 

My research interests include behaviour change, design and process evaluation of health interventions, health promotion, group dynamics and social change processes, and qualitative and mixed methods.