Professor Cathy Lloyd

Professional biography

Cathy Lloyd is Emeritus Professor of Health Studies in the School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies at the Open University.

Professor Lloyd gained her PhD at University College London before taking up an American Diabetes Association post-doctoral Fellowship at the Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, U.S.A. Professor Lloyd studied with the Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) team of investigators, following a large cohort of adults with Type 1 diabetes. 

On her return to the UK, Professor Lloyd was awarded an RD Lawrence Fellowship from Diabetes UK to study the role of stress and depression in young people's management of their diabetes with a joint appointment between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham Heartlands Hospital. During her time there she instigated the first psychological service for people with diabetes in the Trust. She worked alongside practitioners at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital to develop new ways of involving people with diabetes from minority ethnic groups in research, people who are often excluded due to language and literacy difficulties. She currently leads an international study in 20 countries; the International Prevalence and Treatment of Diabetes and Depression (INTERPRET-DD) Study, and is a founder member of CoIN-DD (the Community Intervention Network for Diabetes and Depression (http://wels.open.ac.uk/research/coin-dd).

Recent publications include:

Lloyd CE, Sartorius N, Ahmed HU, Alvarez A, Bahendeka S, Bobrov AE et al. Factors associated with the onset of Major Depressive Disorder in adults with type 2 diabetes living in 12 different countries; results from the INTERPRET-DD prospective study. Epidemiology & Psychiatric Sciences 2020; Jun 2;29:e134. doi: 10.1017/S2045796020000438.

Kokoszka A, Pacura A, Kostecka B, Lloyd CE, Sartorius N. Body self-esteem is related to subjective well-being, severity of depressive symptoms and diabetes-related distress in type 2 diabetes. PLOS ONE  2022;17(2), article no. e0263766.

Lloyd CE, Musyimi C, Mutiso V, Ndetei D. Individual and community experiences of the use of language in understanding diabetes and depression in a rural community in Kenya. Global Public Health 2022 https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2022.2049841

Kremers S, Wild SH, Elders P, Beulens JW, Campbell D, Pouwer F, Lindekilde N, de Wit M, Lloyd CE, Rutters F. The role of mental disorders in precision medicine for diabetes. Diabetologia (2022) 65:1895–1906 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-022-05738-x

Geng W, Jiang Y, Hong X, Weigang Zhao, Ren J, Lloyd CE Sartorius N, Wei J. Psychiatric help-seeking during 1-year follow-up in Chinese patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus comorbid major depressive disorder. Frontiers in Endocrinology 2023, Volume 14, https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1266183

Ndetei DM, Mutiso V, Musyimi C, Nyamai P, Lloyd C, Sartorius N. Association of type 2 diabetes with family history of diabetes, diabetes biomarkers, mental and physical disorders in a Kenyan setting. Scientific Reports 2024; 14:11037 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61984-6

Professor Lloyd is a member of the Language Matters Group which, supported by NHS England, published a review of the literature* and developed a Position Statement** on the language used in clinical encounters with people with diabetes.

Lloyd CE, Whicher C, Wilson A, Holt RIG, Kar P. Language matters; a UK perspective. Diabetic Medicine 2018, https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.13801

Cooper A, Swindell B on behalf of the Language Matters Group. Position Paper. Launched by NHS England and Diabetes UK, June 2018; Published in Diabetic Medicine June 2018. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/doSearch?AllField=language+matters&SeriesKey=14645491 and online by NHS England; (https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/language-matters-language-and-diabetes/ and https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/language-matters.pdf

Professor Lloyd has been an (ADVANCE HE) AURORA (women's leadership programme) mentor and has also supervised PhD students for many years.

Research interests

Professor Lloyd has an international reputation for research in the psychosocial field of diabetes. Her research interests centre on diabetes and mental health within which there are two overlapping strands. The first of these focuses on the relationship between diabetes and mental health and how this might impact on the individual and on health service provision. The second strand is her commitment to taking an inclusive approach to her research, pioneering alternative ways of involving minority ethnic groups in research where they are often excluded due to language and literacy difficulties.

Professor Lloyd's current research interests include diabetes prevention, diabetes-related distress, community-based interventions for diabetes and depression in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the care pathways for depression and other psychological problems in people with diabetes. 

In collaboration with service users from minority ethnic groups, Professor Lloyd has developed culturally appropriate versions of scales used to screen for depression, diabetes self-management and emotional well-being, as well as the Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Scale (including a simplified 'True/False' version) in collaboration with Professor Tom Fitzgerald and other colleagues both in the UK and the U.S.  These questionnaires have subsequently been used in a wide range of studies across the globe - please contact Prof. Lloyd for details of and permission to use these scales.

She is the Project Lead for a global study, the International Prevalence and Treatment of Diabetes and Depression (INTERPRET-DD) Study investigating the prevalence of recognised and unrecognised depression (using a standardised clinical interview), diabetes-related emotional distress, the impact on diabetic control and complications, and the care pathways that are initiated to treat co-morbid diabetes and depression. 

Teaching interests

Professor Lloyd has chaired many modules for the School of Health, Wellbeing & Social Care and has supervised a number of PhD students.

Her external examining roles have included:

The Masters in Public Health, University of Manchester,

The Clinical Psychology Programme at the University of Birmingham,

Various PhD examinations in the UK and US.

Impact and engagement

• Academic Consultant for the BBC2 series Hospital (nominated for a Grierson Award, and winner of the Royal Television Society award for Best Documentary Series) with accompanying OU Openlearn materials https://www.open.edu/openlearn/hospital
• Webinar Chair, Language Matters: supporting emotional health in diabetes care, in association with The Open University and Diabetes UK. http://stadium.open.ac.uk/stadia/preview.php?whichevent=3545&s=31
• Webinar Chair, Language Matters: the impact on people with diabetes for the Association of British Clinical  Diabetologists https://abcd.care/events/language-matters-impact-people-living-diabetes
• Webinar Chair, Supporting people experiencing diabetes distress, for the Association of British Clinical  Diabetologists

External collaborations

UK:

The Language Matters Group, UK

Warwick University, Dr Krys Matyka - Fear of Hypoglycaemia study

Middlesex University, Prof Arie Nouwen - INTERPRET-DD study

Worldwide:

INTERPRET-DD investigators in Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine.

Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) Study, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, USA.

International links

Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) Study

Dialogue on Diabetes and Depression (DDD)

International Prevalence and Treatment of Diabetes and Depression (INTERPRET-DD) Study

Psychosocial Aspects of Diabetes (PSAD), a study group of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD)