Gwerfyl Roberts

Director LLAIS

www.llais.org

Professional Qualifications

BSc (Hons) Medical Biochemistry
Registered General Nurse
Master of Nursing
Post-graduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education

Research Interests

Gwerfyl’s main research interest focuses on enhancing and implementing the evidence base for language appropriate practice in health and social care. She is Director of LLAIS www.llais.org, the Welsh Assembly Government funded infrastructure support group that guides Welsh language awareness across the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR) www.nischr.org.uk.
Commissioned research includes a national study to obtain a sector wide overview of the levels of Welsh language awareness amongst healthcare professionals; a scoping study to determine the need for a national health and social care research network for language awareness in Wales; and an evaluation of the Twf project, a Welsh Language Board initiative that supports healthcare professionals to promote language transmission in the family.
Building on a programme of work that commenced in 2008, Gwerfyl has led the Welsh translation and linguistic validation of a number of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and pioneered approaches for embedding their psychometric validation into RCTs. She continues to be involved in the production of bilingual healthcare terminologies and teaching and learning resources to support language appropriate practice; and is co-editor of the 1st Welsh Edition of Bailliere’s Midwives’ Dictionary.

Gwerfyl is a member of:

Funded Research and Development

KESS MRes Scholarship
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £10,000. Funded by: European Social Fund. Date: 2010-2011.

Welsh medium PhD Scholarship
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £45,000. Funded by: Coleg Cymraeg Cymru. Date: 2011-2015.

Dignity in Care: Welsh Language Toolkit
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £5,000. Funded by: Welsh Assembly Government. Date: 2011.

Access to Masters Scholarships x 2
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £13,000. Funded by: European Social Fund. Date: 2010-2011.

Digital Stories: An Evaluation of a Pilot Project to Promote and Embed User Involvement in Health and Social Care Research in Wales
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £10,000. Funded by: National Institute for Social Care and Health Research. Clinical Research Centre. Date: 2010-2011.

LLAIS: Language Awareness Infrastructure Support for NISCHR CRC
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £151,733. Funded by: National Institute for Social Care and Health Research. Date: 2010-2013.

Supporting People Living with Stroke: Investigating Preferences for Community Services
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £100,310. Funded by: National Institute for Social Care and Health Research. Date: 2010-2012.

Assimilating the Twf message into the work of Midwives and Health Visitors.
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £11,232. Funded by: Welsh Language Board. Date: 2009.

Cyflwyniad i Anabledd Dysgu ym maes Gofal Iechyd / Introduction to Learning Disability in Health Care
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £8,956. Funded by: Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. Date: 2009.

PILSen: Practice Interventions for Language Sensitivity: a Pilot Study to Inform the Delivery of Pharmaceutical Services in Rural North Wales
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £11,894. Funded by: Welsh Assembly Government. Date: 2009.

Translation and Validation Study of a Welsh Language Version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £9,936. Funded by: Wales Office for Research and Development in Health and Social Care. Date: 2009.

SAIB: Speech Accommodation in Bilinguals: Prospects for Informing Healthcare Communication in the Bilingual Setting
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £4,196. Funded by: ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Bangor University. Date: 2008-2009.

Scoping Study of Bilingual Provision in Nurse Education
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £19,904. Funded by: Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. Date: 2008.

Language Awareness in Health and Social Care Research: A Self-Directed Learning Pack for Nurse Education.
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £5,000. Funded by: Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. Date: 2007-2008

Welsh medium PhD Scholarship
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £45,000. Funded by: Welsh Language Board.2007-2010.

Welsh medium PhD Scholarship
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £45,000. Funded by: Higher Education Funding Council for Wales. 2007-2010.

LLAIS: Language Awareness Infrastructure Support for CRC Cymru
Joint Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £431,585. Funded by: Wales Office for Research and Development in Health and Social Care. Date: 2006-2010.

Twf and Onwards: Impact Assessment and the Way Forward
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £214,000. Funded by: Welsh Language Board. Date: 2005-2008.

Scoping Study of Language Awareness in Health and Social Care
Joint Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £14,000. Funded by: Wales Office for Research and Development in Health and Social Care. Date: 2005.

A Study of Welsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales.
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £89,000. Funded by: Welsh Assembly Government. Date: 2003-2004.

Development of a Welsh Language Version of the Quality of Life Measure EQ-5D
Co-Investigator
Total Grant: £4,755. Funded by: North Wales Research and Development Committee Date: 2003.

Bilingual Initiatives in Midwifery Education
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £166,800. Funded by: Welsh Assembly Government. Date: 2001-2003.

Chronic Pain Assessment amongst Bilingual Patients
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £5,000. Funded by: North Wales Research and Development Committee. Date: 2003.

Promoting European Minority Languages in Health Education
Principal Investigator
Total Grant: £11,500. Funded by: European Commission. Date: 1997.

Editorial Activities

Reviewer International Journal of Nursing Studies
Reviewer Contemporary Wales
Reviewer RCN International Nursing Research Conference, Liverpool, 2008; Cardiff 2009; Newcastle 2010

Keynote and Invited Addresses

Roberts G. ‘Sefydlu’r Sail Tystiolaeth ar gyferCynllunio Ieithyddol ym maes Gofal Iechyd’. Language Planning in Wales and beyond. Bangor University, 2010.

Roberts G & Earles C. ‘Sgiliau Cymraeg mewn Gofal Iechyd’. Skills in Welsh National Conference. Cardiff, 2009.

Roberts G. 'Y Gymraeg fel Arf Glinigol'. Welsh Language Board Primary Health Care Seminar. Llandrindod, 2007.

Roberts G & Irvine F. Establishing the Research Evidence for Language Appropriate Practice. Welsh in the Health Service Annual Conference. Llandudno, 2007.

Roberts G, Irvine F, Spencer L & Jones P. A Study of Welsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales. Welsh in the Health Service Annual Conference. Cardiff, 2005.

Roberts G.Supporting Language Appropriate Practice in Healthcare. Welsh RCN Learning Representatives Conference, RCN Wales, Cardiff, 2005

Board Membership

Member of Ministerial Steering Group for the Strategic Framework for the Welsh Language in Health and Social Services. 2010-

Member of All-Wales Ministerial Task Group for Welsh Language Services in Health and Social Care. 2004-

Member of Nursing Network Panel, Welsh Medium Sector Group, Higher Education Wales. 2006-

Member of Health Network Panel, Welsh Medium Sector Group, Higher Education Wales 2010-

Member of Pwyllgor Partneriaid Twf Partners Group, Welsh Language Board 2003-

Member of North Wales Healthcare Terminology Group. 2000-2009.

Member of University of Wales Board of Welsh-medium Studies. 1997-2003.

Collaborations

ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism, Bangor University
Language Technology Unit, Canolfan Bedwyr, Bangor University
North Wales Organisation for Randomised Trials in Health
Mental Health Research Network Cymru
Older People & Ageing Research & Development Network (OPAN Cymru)
Besti Cadwaladr University Health Board
Gwynedd Council
University of Glamorgan

Publications

Roberts G, Roberts S, Whitaker R, Tranter S, Prys D, Owen H, Tranter R, Sylvestre Y, Bedson E (2011) Enhancing rigour in the validation of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs): bridging linguistic and psychometric testing. Value in Health (under review).

Prys M, Deuchar M, Roberts G (2011) Measuring speech accommodation in rural Welsh pharmacies. In Braunmüller K, Gabriel C and Hänel-Faulhaber B (eds.) HSM 13: Multilingual Individuals – Multilingual Societies. Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam (under review).

Roberts G, Jones E & Ap Rhisiart D (2011) Dignity in Care: Giving Voice to Older People: Welsh Language Toolkit. Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff.

Williams R W, Roberts G, Irvine F & Hastings R (2010) Exploring decision making in intellectual disability nursing practice: a qualitative study. Journal of Intellectual Disability 14, 3, 197-220.

Tranter S, Irvine F, Roberts G, Spencer L, Jones P (2010) The role of midwives and health visitors in promoting intergenerational language maintenance in the bilingual setting: perceptions of parents and health professionals. Journal of Clinical Nursing 20, 1/2, 204-213

Roberts G, Irvine F, Tranter S & Spencer L (2010) Identifying priorities for establishing bilingual provision in nurse education: A scoping study. Nurse Education Today 30, 623-630.

Irvine F, Roberts G, Tranter S, Williams L & Jones P (2008) Using the critical incident technique to explore student nurses’ perceptions of language awareness. Nurse Education Today 28, 1, 39-47.

Irvine F, Roberts G & Bradbury Jones C (2008) The researcher as insider v the researcher as outsider: enhancing rigour through language and cultural sensitivity. In Liamputtong P. (ed.) Doing Cross-Cultural Research: Ethical and Methodological Considerations. Springer, USA. Pg 35-48.
Roberts G, Irvine F, Jones P, Spencer L, Baker C & Williams C (2007) Language awareness in the bilingual healthcare setting: a national survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies 44, 1177-1186.

Spencer L, Roberts G, Irvine F,Jones P & Baker C (2007) Using Cluster Analysis to Explore Survey Data. Nurse Researcher 15, 1, 37-54.

Roberts G, Irvine F, Richardson J, Earles C, Gareth E & Prys R (2007) Report of a scoping study of language awareness in health and social care setting. Scripta Scientifica Medica 39, 89-93.

Roberts G & Irvine F (2007) LLAIS Briefing Paper 2: Language Awareness in Health and Social Care Research Governance. University of Wales Bangor. Download from: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/llais/brief/Papur%20Briffio%202.pdf

Roberts G & Irvine F (2006) LLAIS Briefing Paper 1: Language Appropriate Practice in Health and Social Care. University of Wales Bangor. Download from: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/llais/brief/LLAIS_ORG.pdf

Irvine F, Roberts G, Jones P, Spencer L, Baker C & Williams C (2006) Communicative sensitivity in the bilingual healthcare setting: A qualitative study of language awareness. Journal of Advanced Nursing 53, 4, 1-13.

Muntz R, Prys C, Tudor Edwards R & Roberts G (2006) Development of a Welsh language version of the EQ-5D health-related quality of life measure: stage one: translation. The Psychologist in Wales. Issue 18, 21-25.

Roberts G, Irvine F, Richardson J, Earles C, Gareth E & Prys R (2005) Report on a Scoping Study of Language Awareness in Health and Social Care. University of Wales Bangor. Download from: http://www.word.wales.gov.uk/content/networks/language-e.pdf

Prys D, Roberts G & Paden L (2004) Geiriadur Bydwragedd Baillliere Midwives Dictionary. (1st Welsh edition). University of Wales Bangor.

Roberts G, Irvine F, Jones P, Baker C & Williams C (2004) Report of a Study ofWelsh Language Awareness in Healthcare Provision in Wales. Welsh Assembly Government, Cardiff. Download from: http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/documents/415/ACF3394.pdf

Roberts G, Kent B, Prys D & Lewis R (2003) Describing chronic pain: towards Bilingual practice. International Journal of Nursing Studies 40, 889-902.

Roberts G (2003) Mentoring in the Bilingual Setting. University of Wales, Bangor. http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/documents/415/mentora.pdf

Roberts G & Williams C ( 2003) Words of Comfort: Promoting Language Appropriate Practice. University of Wales Bangor.http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sites3/documents/415/Gair-o-Gysur-pdf.pdf

Roberts G & Paden L (2000) Identifying the factors influencing minority language use in healthcare education: a European perspective. Journal of Advanced Nursing 32, 1, 75-83.

Roberts G & Prys D (1997) Termau Nyrsio a Bydwreigiaeth / An English-Welsh Dictionary of Nursing and Midwifery Terms. University of Wales Bangor.

Roberts G, (1996) The power of language in a bilingual community. Nursing Times 92, 339, 40-42

Roberts G (1994) Nurse patient communication within a bilingual healthcare setting. British Journal of Nursing 3, 2, 60-67.