Andrea Kusec
Fulford Junior Research Fellow
My research focuses on developing accessible mental health interventions for adults with different types of brain injuries, such as a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or brain tumours.
Specifically, my research aims to: 1) identify risk factors for poor mental health unique to brain injury populations; and, 2) develop and experimentally test novel mental health interventions that are accessible to brain injury survivors in light of cognitive impairments. My ultimate aim is to improve treatment options for mental health in neuropsychological populations. To achieve these goals, I use a mixture of advanced quantitative (mixed-effects models, structural equation models, risk prediction modelling) and qualitative (thematic analysis, interpretive description) methods.
After completing my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Canada, I completed my PhD training at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge with Dr Tom Manly. For my PhD, I developed and evaluated an intervention for depression and low mood in adults with acquired brain injury in a randomised controlled trial.
In the Translational Neuropsychology Group, I work with Prof Nele Demeyere on developing an improved cognitive care pathway for stroke survivors. In this role, I aim to elucidate the relationship between cognitive impairments and emotional outcomes following stroke, with an eye toward leveraging cognitive strategies as a means of improving mood and vice versa.
Publications
Kusec, A., Murphy, F.C., Peers, P.V., Bennett, R., Carmona, E., Korbacz, A., Lawrence, C., Cameron, E., Bateman, A., Watson, P., Allanson, J., & Manly, T. (in revision). Mood, Activity Participation, and Leisure Engagement Satisfaction: Results from a randomised controlled pilot feasibility trial for low mood in acquired brain injury. Submitted to BMC Medicine.
Kusec, A., Milosevich, E., Williams, O.A., Chiu, E.G., Watson, P., Carrick, C., Drozdowska, B.A., Dillon, A., Jennings, T., Anderson, B., Dawes, H., Thomas, S., Kuppuswamy, A., Pendlebury, S.T., Quinn, T.J., & Demeyere, N. (in revision). Long-term psychological outcomes following stroke: The OX-CHRONIC study. Submitted to BMC Neurology.
Webb, S., Carrick, C., Kusec, A., & Demeyere, N. (in revision). Introducing the Tele- OCS: A validated remotely administered version of The Oxford Cognitive Screen. Submitted to Health Open Research.
Milosevich, E., Kusec, A., Pendlebury, S., & Demeyere, N. (in revision). Domain-specific cognitive impairments, mood and quality of life 6 months after stroke. Submitted to Disability and Rehabilitation.
Kusec, A., Methley, A., Murphy, F.C., Peers, P.V. Carmona, E., & Manly, T. (2023). Developing Behavioural Activation for people with acquired brain injury: A qualitative interpretive description study on barriers and facilitators to activity engagement. BMC Psychology, 11, 207.
Kusec, A., Murphy, F.C., Peers, P.V., & Manly, T. (2023). Measuring intolerance of uncertainty after acquired brain injury: Psychometric properties of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale-Short Form. Assessment.
Kusec, A., Murphy, F.C., Peers, P.V., Lawrence, C., Cameron, E., Morton, C., Bateman, A., Watson, P., & Manly, T. (2020). Mood, Activity Participation, and Leisure Engagement Satisfaction: A randomised controlled pilot feasibility trial for low mood in acquired brain injury. BMC Pilot and Feasibility Studies, 6, 135.
Kusec, A., Panday, J., Froese, A., Albright, H., & Harris, J.E. (2020). Getting motivated: Long-term perspectives on engaging in community-based programs after acquired brain injury. Brain Injury, 34, 1331 – 1338.
Malivoire, B., Marcos, M., Pawluk, E.J., Tallon, K., Kusec, A., & Koerner, N. (2019). Look before you leap: The role of negative urgency in appraisals of ambiguous and unambiguous scenarios in individuals high in generalized anxiety symptoms. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 48, 217 – 240.
Kusec, A., Velikonja, D., DeMatteo, C., & Harris, J.E. (2019). Motivation in rehabilitation and acquired brain injury: Can theory help us understand it? Disability and Rehabilitation, 41, 2343 – 2349.
Kusec, A., DeMatteo, C., Velikonja, D., & Harris, J.E. (2018). Psychometric properties of measures of motivation and engagement after acquired brain injury. Rehabilitation Psychology, 63, 92 – 103.
Safar, K., Kusec, A., & Moulson, M. (2017). Face experience and the attentional bias for fearful expressions in 6- and 9-month old infants. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1575.
Vickers, K., Ein, N., Koerner, N., Kusec, A., McCabe, R.E., Rowa, K., & Antony, M.M. (2017). Self-reported hygiene-related behaviors among individuals with contamination-related obsessive-compulsive disorder, individuals with anxiety disorders, and nonpsychiatric controls. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 14, 71 – 83.
Koerner, N., Mejia, T., & Kusec, A. (2017). What’s in a name? Intolerance of uncertainty, other uncertainty-relevant constructs, and their differential relations to worry and generalized anxiety disorder. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 46(2), 141 – 161.
Kusec, A., Tallon, K., & Koerner, N. (2016). Intolerance of uncertainty, causal uncertainty, causal importance, self-concept clarity and their relations to generalised anxiety disorder. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 44(6), 441 – 455.