Nicole Holt

Nicole is a lecturer in Public Health and Wellbeing within the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Social Care at Canterbury Christ Church University.

I am a passionate lecturer in Public Health and Wellbeing for the School of Allied and Public Health Professions within the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Social Care at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Previously, I have worked at Canterbury City Council, a children’s charity and the care sector. I have also been involved in numerous research projects, from supporting children with additional needs to introducing therapy dogs into the courtroom.

For my PhD, I explored the reported relationship between Spirituality and Public Health in those who identify as spiritual but not religious. I am currently involved in several research projects. This includes working with a national charity to explore the support available for former Jehovah's witnesses. With Miles Greenford, we are currently exploring 'Inspiring Spiritual Health Responsibly', with a special interest in the symbiosis between natural places and an individual's spiritual health promotion. In addition, Dr James Murphy and I are examining religious and spiritual coping within different populations. I am also leading a team (originally led by Dr Maria Stein) on exploring factors that influence Occupational Therapy (OT) students’ readiness to engage with different teaching and learning methods.

I have won several academic prizes, including the David Steers Award and Dean of Canterbury’s Prize for Christian Theology. I have also been nominated for the Golden Apple award every year since I started at CCCU.

My specific interests are: spirituality, pet therapy, employability and social prescribing.

I have teaching involvement in the following courses/modules:

BSc/BA Health Foundation Year
BSc (Hons) Public Health and Health Promotion
BSc (Hons) Mental Health Wellbeing and Society
MSc Global Public Health (dissertation supervision)

I am currently module lead for the following courses:
Level 0: Introduction to Social and Environmental Aspects of Health and Wellbeing
Level 4: Key Concepts in Health and Wellbeing
Level 5: Employability and Public Health
Level 5: Social Prescribing
Level 6: Relationships and Sex Education
Level 6: Mental Health, Culture, and Society

Modules I have previously taught on:

Level 4: Communicating Health Information (Module Leader)
Level 4: Public Health and Team Skills (Module Leader)
Level 4: Personal Academic Development
Level 4: Major Health and Lifestyle issues

I have completed the UCAP (HE) teaching qualification at CCCU, and I am an associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research interests & Supervison

Do you want to do a research degree? Are you interested in Medicine, Health and Social Care or related topics? Then I would be pleased to hear from you.

Conference Presentations

Conference Paper “Shame and Guilt: Exploring How Gender Affects the Experiences of Former Jehovah's Witnesses” Gender and Religious Exit: Moving Away from Faith Conference. Collaborative Project. November 2023.

Exploring How ex-JWs Construct New Identities and Worldviews After Leaving Religion’ paper presented at the Non-religion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN) Conference. June 2023 (Collaborative project).

‘A systematised review of the Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR) Population and Public Health Outcomes’ paper presented at the International Network for the Study of Spirituality (INSS) Conference. May 2023.

‘Coping with Challenging Life Events: A Qualitative Research Synthesis Exploring Religious and Spiritual Coping’ paper presented at the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) conference. August 2022. (Collaborative project).

‘Promoting Resilience in Occupational Therapy Education, a Scoping Literature Review’ paper presented at the COTEC-ENOTHE Congress. September 2021. (Collaborative project).

‘Spiritual Experiences and Health: Perceived effects of spirituality on the health of those who identify as Spiritual but Not Religious (SBNR) in the UK?’ Religious Experience Research Centre Conference. July 2019.

Craft and Techniques Tips for all Writing Genres’ workshop presented at the MeCCSA PNG conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. July 2018.‘How Spirituality Influences some People’s Health’ paper presented at the Spirituality and Mental Health Conference at Manchester University. July 2017.

‘God`s Pack: ‘Transcending Conventional Theology and Wellbeing’ paper presented at the Arts and Humanities Conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. June 2017.

‘Spirituality and Peoples Wellbeing’ paper presented at the Interprofessional Education: Sharing Research and Practice Conference at Canterbury Christ Church University. January 2017.

‘Wild Places and Healthy Spaces’ paper presented at the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) conference. September 2016.

'Creating Gold Standards Animal Rescue Charities.' Presented at The Festival of Community Psychology: Creativity Collaboration and Community. November 2015.‘Concept Analysis of Spirituality’ paper presented at ‘Spirituality in the 21st Century’ Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. March 2015.

‘How dog Ownership Impacts People’s Health and Wellbeing.’ Presented at Canterbury Christ Church Health and Wellbeing Conference. May 2014.

Publications

Martinez, N., Holt, N. and McCloskey, E. (Under review) Tackling Cervical Screening Inequalities in Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals: A Group Psychology Intervention.

Holt, N., Furze, N. and Gawen, H. (Sept 2023). 'An experimental study investigating the impact of repetitive television viewing on attention, distractibility and enjoyment.’ MeCCsa Journal.

Bolarinwa, O. and Holt N. (2023). Barriers to breast and cervical cancer screening uptake among Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic women in the United Kingdom: evidence from a mixed-methods systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 23(1), pp.1-17.

Holt, N. and Greenford, M. (2022). ‘Realising Potent Complexities of Women Being Spiritual and Healthy’ In Bennet et al. Woman and Religion in Britain Today. London: Vernon Press.

Wildwing, T. and Holt, N. (2021). 'The neurological symptoms of COVID-19: a systematic overview of systematic reviews, comparison with other neurological conditions and implications for healthcare services. Therapeutic advances in chronic disease.'

Holt, N. (2021). ‘From Roast to Roost the Therapeutic Benefits of Keeping Chickens.’ In Shedden, J. (2021).

The Healing Power of Chickens. Great Britain: Amazon.

Spruin, E., Mozova, K., Franz, A., Mitchell, S., Fernandez, A. and Holt, N. (2019). ‘The Use of Therapy Dogs to Support Court Users.’ Journal of Criminal Justice.

Holt, N. and Walker, P. (2017). Comfort, Christ and Man’s Best Friend: The “New” Christian Role for Therapy Dogs. Sage Theology Journal.

Spruin, E., Abbott, N., and Holt, N. (2017).‘The impact of short break schemes on disabled children and their families.’ International Journal of Disability, Development and Education."

Research Projects

A Stepping Stone Towards the Implementation of ‘Opt-Out DNARs’: A Mixed Methods Study. Researcher(s): Ms Sophie Faulkner. Supervisor(s): Dr Luke Ewart, Dr Nicole Holt, Professor Eleni Hatzidimitriadou. [Postgraduate Research Project]
A study of health and care profession student experiences in the transition from undergraduate level studies to post graduate study.. Researcher(s): Miss Jeannette Head. Supervisor(s): Dr Nicole Holt, Professor Janet Melville-Wiseman. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Addressing healthcare inequalities: Analysing maternal and reproductive health services and utilisation in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. Researcher(s): Mr Obasanjo Bolarinwa. Supervisor(s): Professor Julie Balen, Dr Nicole Holt, Professor Eleni Hatzidimitriadou. [Postgraduate Research Project]