design, implementation and evaluation of complex interventions

Using normalisation process theory to explore mHealth implementation

Dr Shobhana (Shobi) Nagraj is a post-doctoral Clinical Researcher in the Health Systems Collaborative group within the NDM Centre for Global Health Research, working in the fields of Health Systems research and Implementation Science, with a focus on maternal child health. 

Shobi has worked closely with rural communities and Community Health Care Workers (CHWs) in low-resource settings globally.  She is passionate about delivering high-quality, universal health services to women and children, that meet the needs of the communities and end-users. Her research focuses on the use of theory in the design, implementation and evaluation of complex interventions (including mobile technologies) to support the healthcare workforce in low-resource settings.  She is interested in how complex innovations can be designed to facilitate implementation and sustainability within the health system and the communities they serve.  

Shobi received an MRC Clinical Research Training Fellowship to complete her DPhil, which involved the theory-informed design, development and evaluation of a complex intervention for CHWs in rural India to screen, refer and counsel pregnant women at high risk of future cardiometabolic disorders. The intervention included home-based, point-of-care screening for anaemia in pregnancy and resulted in a reduction in maternal anaemia:  https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e44362/PDF.  

Shobi also works closely with local community organisations in Oxfordshire, bringing together multi-sectoral stakeholders to address inequalities in maternal and child nutrition. To support this work, she was successful in obtaining an Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) fellowship entitled 'Addressing childhood malnutrition: from grassroots to policy action', working in collaboration with Good Food Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire County Council. The report can be downloaded here: https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/news/collaborating-for-health-policy-actions-in-oxfordshire-addressing-child-food-poverty-from-grassroots-to-policy-actions

Shobi teaches on the Behavioural Science & Complex interventions module of the MSc in Translational Health Sciences and has been a Course Director for the Oxford University Global Surgery course (2021-2023), and has lead the Global Surgery day on the International Health & Tropical Medicine Masters course at the University of Oxford.  She is an Editorial Board member for PLOS Global Public Health, has reviewed grants for the MRC and Research Council of Norway, and been part of the NIHR Global Health Community of Practice on Community Engagement & Involvement. 

Her research interests include: Global surgery, global children’s health, human-centred design, implementation of complex innovations in low-resource settings, and health professionals’ education.