Islay Barne

Thesis title: Exploring the link between experiential avoidance and mental health symptoms in day-to-day life

Background

I completed a BSc in Psychology at Durham University from 2018 - 2021, where I also worked as a research assistant in the Department of Psychology.

Following from this, I am now currently undertaking my PhD in Clinical Psychology, in the School of Health in Social Science here at the University of Edinburgh. As part of my PhD, I am working alongside the IMMERSE Project, a multi-site EU Horizon funded project looking to explore the implementation of a digital mobile mental health intervention across 4 countries.

My research is using Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) to look at how experiential avoidance is used as a coping strategy in day-to-day life and how this might be related to mental health outcomes.

Qualifications

  • BSc Psychology (First Class Honours) [2021]

Responsibilities & affiliations

  • Contextual Mental Health Group

Postgraduate teaching

  • Research Methods in Applied Psychology (2022 - 2023) - Tutor
  • Developmental Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology (2022 - 2025) - Tutor
  • Individual Differences (2022 - 2025) - Tutor
  • Applied Developmental Psychopathology (2023 - 2025) - Tutor

Research summary

My current research looks to use Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) to better understand how we use coping strategies, such as experiential avoidance, in our day-to-day lives. Specifically I am interested in how these processes might be linked to mental well being in clinical and non-clinical populations.

I am also interested in perinatal mental health and how such coping processes might support parents as they adjust to having their infant at home.

Current research interests

Experiential avoidance, coping, perinatal mental health, process-based and transdiagnostic approaches to mental health, Experience Sampling Method studies

Project activity

  • The IMMERSE Project (looking at the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a digital mobile mental health tool in mental health services)
  • The EPIC-A Study (understanding the day-to-day mental well being of young people who are seeking help for their mental health)
  • Perinatal Mental Health Study (looking at the day-to-day social and emotional adjustment of parents after taking their new born infants home from the hospital)

Participant

  • 18th World Congress for the World Association for Infant Mental Health conference, 2023, Poster presentation

Papers delivered

  • Barne, I., Wells, C. E., Wheeler, M., Bairstow, H., Brechin, D., Evans, S., & Lever, C. (2025).  Cognition in Meningioma: Effects of Tumor Location and Tumor Removal. World Neurosurgery, 194, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wneu.2024.11.102
  • Reininghaus, U., Schwannauer, M., Barne, I., Beames, J. R., Bonnier, R. A., Brenner, M., Breznoščáková, D., Dančík, D., De Allegri, M., Di Folco, S., Durstewitz, D., Gugel, J., Hajdúk, M., Heretik, A., Izáková, Ľ., Katreniakova, Z., Kiekens, G., Koppe, G., Kurilla, A., Marelli, L., … Schick, A. (2024). Strategies, processes, outcomes, and costs of implementing experience sampling-based monitoring in routine mental health care in four European countries: study protocol for the IMMERSE effectiveness-implementation study. BMC psychiatry, 24(1), 465. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05839-4
  • Myin-Germeys, I., Schick, A., Ganslandt, T., Hajdúk, M., Heretik, A., Van Hoyweghen, I., Kiekens, G., Koppe, G., Marelli, L., Nagyova, I., Weermeijer, J., Wensing, M., Wolters, M., Beames, J., de Allegri, M., di Folco, S., Durstewitz, D., Katreniaková, Z., Lievevrouw, E., Nguyen, H., Barne, I.… Reininghaus, U. (2024). The experience sampling methodology as a digital clinical tool for more person-centered mental health care: an implementation research agenda. Psychological medicine, 1–9. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291724001454