Deborah works part-time in a teaching and research role and part-time as an NHS clinical psychologist in a community team, for people with intellectual disabilities.

Research interests

Deborah's key interests are in access to health information and health services, health and social care determinants and inequalities. In the past, she has carried out research using the concept of health literacy, including both theoretical work and empirical work on the development of a health literacy assessment tool – the All Aspects of Health Literacy Scale (AAHLS). This tool has been translated into more than 10 languages and is used all over the world.

Deborah's other research has looked at access to health information and health and social care for people with intellectual disabilities. She has used a variety of research designs including survey questionnaires, secondary analysis of data, qualitative interviews and video observations.

She also has wide experience in the use of qualitative methods, particularly discourse analysis, conversation analysis and participatory research methods. Her research has contributed to the design of new services, and to policy, guidance and training for practitioners.

Enquiring about potential PhD supervision

If you’re thinking of applying for one of our PhD programmes and are looking for potential supervisors, please email nmpc_pgr_enquiries@kcl.ac.uk listing the names of the supervisors you’ve identified as having expertise in your chosen area, along with your CV and a short research proposal. 

Our Postgraduate Research Team will contact supervisors on your behalf and get back to you. If you have any queries in the meantime, please use the email address above, rather than contacting potential PhD supervisors directly, because they are unable to respond to initial enquiries.

Research profile

Katharine Slade

Contact details