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Dr Joanna Farr

Positions held:
  • Senior Lecturer, School of Psychological Sciences
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  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    I research young people’s experience of mental health difficulties and emotional wellbeing, with a particular focus on using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), visual and longitudinal methods to access and express everyday lived experiences.

    In 2021, I was awarded my PhD and joined ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú as Lecturer in Psychology after holding research positions at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and Roehampton University of London.

    ORCID

  • Research

    Research

    Research overview

    My current research activities include:

    Project 1: Capturing and expressing adolescent girls’ everyday experience of managing emotional wellbeing
    Funded by Wellcome Trust Institutional Support Fund at ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú

    This project aims to develop an interdisciplinary approach to access adolescent girls’ everyday experiences of managing their feelings and make those experiences accessible to others. The intention is to push the boundaries of our understanding by extending this approach nationally and globally to access girls’ daily experiences across cultures and settings.

    Project objectives follow from recognised challenges in girls’ mental health and wellbeing, and a need to understand their use of daily self-care strategies, unguided interventions and coping strategies. These play a key role in preventing and managing emotional and psychological difficulties, but currently are not understood.

    Methodologically, it combines video diaries, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and film: 16 and 17-year-olds are invited to make daily video diaries on their phone then, drawing on these, in-depth interviews are conducted and short films developed.

    It is a collaboration between Joanna Farr in Psychology () and Bartek Dziadosz in Film, Media and Cultural Studies (The Derek Jarman Lab), supported by Dr Sarah Marks and Professor Jonathan Smith.

    Project 2: The experience of first-episode psychosis and early intervention for young people diagnosed with bipolar disorder

    This project uses IPA to understand how young people diagnosed with bipolar disorder experience first-psychotic episode and its aftermath, supported by NHS early intervention psychosis services. There is a strong rationale for early intervention for bipolar disorder: it is more responsive to treatment early on and has a high risk of episode recurrence in the first year. The clinical effectiveness of early intervention for psychosis broadly is well-established, but little is known about how this might best support and be tailored to this group specifically. 

    Research clusters and groups

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  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Farr, Joanna and Smith, Jonathan and Rhodes, John (2025) . The Qualitative Report 29 (11), pp. 2950-2963. ISSN 2160-3715.
    • Osgood, J. and Farr, Joanna (2025) . The Humanistic Psychologist ISSN 0887-3267.
    • Starr, Rachel and Farr, Joanna (2025) . International Journal of Adolescence and Youth 30 (1), ISSN 0267-3843.
    • Farr, Joanna and Rhodes, John and Baruch, E. and Smith, Jonathan (2024) . Journal of Mental Health ISSN 0963-8237.
    • Farr, Joanna and Smith, Jonathan and Rhodes, John (2024) . Counselling Psychology Quarterly ISSN 0951-5070.
    • Farr, Joanna and Rhodes, John and Baruch, E. and Smith, Jonathan A. (2023) . Psychosis: Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches ISSN 1752-3429.
    • Farr, Joanna and Rhodes, John and Smith, Jonathan A. (2023) . Early Intervention In Psychiatry ISSN 1751-7885.
    • Stapley, E. and Town, R. and Yoon, Y. and Lereya Suzet, T. and Farr, Joanna and Turner, J. and Barnes, N. (2022) . Children and Youth Services Review 132 (106327), ISSN 0190-7409.
    • Nizza, Isabella and Farr, Joanna and Smith, Jonathan A. (2021) . Qualitative Research in Psychology ISSN 1478-0887.
    • Farr, Joanna and Moore, A. and Bruffell, H. and Hayes, J. and Rae, J. and Cooper, M. (2021) . Child Care, Health and Development 47 (4), pp. 442-450. ISSN 1365-2214.
    • Farr, Joanna and Edbrooke-Childs, J. and Town, R. and Pietkiewicz, D. and Young, I. and Stapley, E. (2021) . Journal of Child Sexual Abuse 30 (1), pp. 102-123. ISSN 1547-0679.
    • Farr, Joanna and Di Malta, G. and Cooper, M. (2019) . Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 20 (1), pp. 3-8. ISSN 1746-1405.
    • Farr, Joanna and Nizza, Isabella (2019) . Qualitative Research in Psychology 16 (2), pp. 199-217. ISSN 1478-0887.
    • Farr, Joanna and Blenkiron, L. and Harris, R. and Smith, Jonathan A. (2018) . Journal of Family Issues 39 (11), pp. 3029-3054. ISSN 0192-513X.