Dr Hilary Causer
Pronouns: she/her
Research Fellow
PhD
Academic and research departments
Workforce, Organisation and Wellbeing (WOW) Expert Group, School of Health Sciences.About
Biography
I am a qualitative researcher with experience of using a wide range of methods, including critical and feminist methodologies. I am interested in workplace wellbeing and the impact of workplace suicide on employees, teams and organisations. I am a full time research fellow working on the Wellcome Trust funded '‘Suffering with suicide’: Revisioning distress and nurse suicidality through a feminist, critical suicidology lens' project. My previous research has explored the impact of colleague suicide on NHS staff and the impact of student suicide on staff in UK universities. My research has informed two sets of Postvention guidance, for the NHS and for the Higher Education sector. Prior to my research career I was employed in child protection and young people's mental health settings in the third and public sector. My research interests are informed by my practice experience. I am curious to learn more about the impact of adverse events in the workplace on individual practitioners, teams and workplace cultures.
Areas of specialism
Suicidology. Nurse suicide. Workplace wellbeing. Critical methodologies. Qualitative methods. Postvention guidance.
My qualifications
2000
BSc (Honours) Social Science.
Open University
2016
MSc Counselling Psychology
University of Worcester
2021
PhD A critical exploration of staff experiences and roles following a student death by suicide within two United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions
University of Worcester
Previous roles
27 September 2021 - 30 June 2022
Research Fellow
University of Birmingham
01 January 2021 - 30 September 2021
Research associate: Developing and delivering evidence based learning and training resources to social care practitioners in public and third sector settings.
Research in Practice
01 October 2016 - 31 December 2020
PhD Candidate: A critical exploration of staff experiences and roles following a student death by suicide within two United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions.
University of Worcester
Supervision
Postgraduate research supervision
Bethany Ashton - A qualitative intersectional investigation into the experiences and consequences of Whistleblowing for women nurses.
Publications
Additional publications
- Ruth Riley; Johanna Spiers; Hilary Causer; Jill Maben; Carolyn Chew-Graham; Nikolaos Efstathiou; Anya Gopfert; Kathryn Grayling; Maria van Hove (2025). Evidence of the impact on and views of NHS staff following a colleague’s suicide to inform postvention guidance: a multi-methods study. NIHR. DOI: 10.3310/GFTA1212
- Riley, R., Conolly, A., & Causer, H. (2025). ‘We aim to explore contexts contributing to suicide in female nurses’. Nursing Times. ‘We aim to explore contexts contributing to suicide in female nurses – please contact us’ | Nursing Times
- Hofmann, L., Putri, A. K., Pitman, A., Bantjes, J., Castelli Dransart, D. A., Causer, H., … Andriessen, K. (2024). Perceived Effectiveness of Components of Interventions to Support People Bereaved By Suicide: A Metareview of Systematic Reviews. Crisis, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000978
- Causer, H., Spiers, J., Chew-Graham, C. A., Efstathiou, N., Gopfert, A., Grayling, K., Maben, J., van Hove, M., & Riley, R. (2024). Filling in the gaps: A grounded theory of the experiences and needs of healthcare staff following a colleague death by suicide in the UK. Death Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2024.2337202
- Causer, H., Spiers, J., & Riley, R. (2024). A Method for Synthesizing Qualitative Data Sources in the Co-Production of Postvention Guidelines for the NHS: A Worked Example. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241229985
- Johanna Spiers, Hilary Causer, Nikos Efstathiou, Carolyn A. Chew-Graham, Anya Gopfert, Kathryn Grayling, Jill Maben, Maria van Hove & Ruth Riley (2024) Negotiating the postvention situation: A grounded theory of NHS staff experiences when supporting their coworkers following a colleague’s suicide, Death Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2023.2297056
- Ridge, D., Bullock, L., Causer, H., Fisher, T., Hider, S., Kingstone, T., Gray, L., Riley, R., Smyth, N., Silverwood, V., Spiers, J. and Southam, J. (2023), ‘Imposter participants’ in online qualitative research, a new and increasing threat to data integrity? Health Expectations. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13724
- Riley, R., Causer, H., Spiers, J., Chew-Graham, C.A., Efstathiou, N., Gopfert, A., Grayling, K., Maben, J., & van Hove, M. (2023). Postvention guidance: Supporting NHS staff after the death by suicide of a colleague. University of Surrey. uos-suicide-postvention-brochure.pdf (surrey.ac.uk)
- Riley, R., Causer, H., Patrick, L., & Rogowsky, R. (2023). Editorial: Why are dominant suicidology approaches failing nurses? A call for a feminist critical suicidology perspective. Journal of Advanced Nursing. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.15899
- Riley, R., & Causer, H. (2023). Why do NHS staff need suicide postvention?: A call to leaders to implement new evidence-based guidance. NHE News Magazine, September/October 2023. 36-39. National Health Executive : September / October 23
- Causer, Hilary, Johanna Spiers, Nikolaos Efstathiou, Stephanie Aston, Carolyn A. Chew-Graham, Anya Gopfert, Kathryn Grayling, Jill Maben, Maria van Hove, and Ruth Riley. (2022). "The Impact of Colleague Suicide and the Current State of Postvention Guidance for Affected Co-Workers: A Critical Integrative Review" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 18: 11565. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811565
- Causer H, Bradley E, Muse K, Smith J (2021) Bearing witness: A grounded theory of the experiences of staff at two United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions following a student death by suicide. PLoS ONE 16(5): e0251369. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251369
- Villa D, Causer H, Riley GA. Experiences that challenge self-identity following traumatic brain injury: a meta-synthesis of qualitative research. Disabil Rehabil. 2021 Nov;43(23):3298-3314. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2020.1743773. Epub 2020 Mar 28. PMID: 32223350.
- Causer H, Muse K, Smith J, Bradley E. What Is the Experience of Practitioners in Health, Education or Social Care Roles Following a Death by Suicide? A Qualitative Research Synthesis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Sep 7;16(18):3293. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16183293. PMID: 31500266; PMCID: PMC6766076.