Dr. Claire Dosdale

Assistant Professor

School: Healthcare and Nursing Sciences

Claire Dosdale is a Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing and nurse academic at Northumbria University, specialising in violence against women and girls (VAWG), trauma-informed care, and healthcare education. Her work bridges research, education, and practice to enhance healthcare responses to gender-based violence and improve nursing student preparation for addressing violence in clinical settings.

In her academic role, Claire oversees student professional standards through her leadership responsibilities as Fitness to Practise school lead, and as programme lead for adult field co-horts. She teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate nursing programs, with a focus on safeguarding, professional practice, and evidence-based care.

Claire's research expertise centres on disclosure experiences in healthcare settings, exploring how survivors of sexual violence navigate help-seeking and the factors that facilitate or hinder disclosure to healthcare professionals. Her PhD research contributes to understanding trauma-informed approaches and organisational responses to sexual violence. She actively engages in Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) methodologies, working collaboratively with survivor communities to ensure research meaningfully addresses their needs and experiences.

Claire's scholarship encompasses violence prevention, Active Bystander Training, and she is currently working on an international scale adaptation relating to gendered violence myth assumptions. She has contributed to national and international discourse on gendered violence in healthcare through publications in peer-reviewed journals, conference presentations, and media engagement including exploring 'Gendered Violence and Abuse: how nurses can help patients and peers' in the British Journal of Nursing podcast.

She is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration, working across health, social care, policing, and third sector organisations to develop evidence-based interventions and educational approaches that create safer healthcare environments for both patients and staff.

Claire sits on Rape Crisis Tyneside and Northumberland Board of Trustees and is also a Board Member at Large for Nursing Network on Violence Against Women International.

Email Claire

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My research interests centre on healthcare responses to sexual violence and gender-based violence, with particular focus on trauma-informed care implementation and survivor-centred practice. I explore the public health implications of interpersonal violence and trauma, including long-term health consequences and population-level impacts of interventions.

My work examines attitudinal barriers to disclosure and support, including victim-blaming perspectives and rape myth acceptance among healthcare professionals and the general public. I am committed to employing rigorous yet ethical research methodologies, including descriptive phenomenology and participatory approaches, to conduct sensitive research that prioritises survivor voices and experiences

Research Interests:

Violence and Trauma

Healthcare responses to sexual violence and gender-based violence
Trauma-informed care implementation in clinical settings
Public health implications of interpersonal violence and trauma

Social Attitudes and Barriers

Victim-blaming attitudes and rape myth acceptance
Attitudinal barriers to disclosure and help-seeking
Sexual harassment in healthcare and professional contexts
Active bystander Training

Research Methodologies

Descriptive phenomenological approaches
Ethical conduct of sensitive research with vulnerable populations
Participatory and survivor-centred research methods

Wider Nursing Interests:

Fitness to practise
Ethical use of AI in nurse education relating
Women in leadership within health organisations

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Balancing Public Protection and Compassion in Fitness to Practise, Hill, B., Dosdale, C. 14 Jan 2026, In: British Journal of Nursing
It’s Just Banter”: Addressing Sexual Harassment within NHS Acute Care Nursing, Dosdale, C., Hagan, S. 14 Jan 2026, In: British Journal of Nursing
Enhancing support for survivors of sexual violence and abuse provided within integrated sexual health services, Henson, C., Dosdale, C., Hill, B. 13 Jan 2025, In: British Journal of Nursing
Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence and Abuse: Approaches to Care for Health Professionals, Dosdale, C., Senior, E., Shotton, L., Skarparis, K. 13 May 2024
Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence and Abuse, Dosdale, C., Senior, E., Shotton, L., Skarparis, K. 13 May 2024, Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence and Abuse, London, Routledge
Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence and Abuse: Approaches to Care for Health Professionals, Dosdale, C., Senior, E., Shotton, L., Skarparis, K. 13 May 2024
Supporting survivors of sexual violence and abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dosdale, C., Skarparis, K. 12 Nov 2020, In: British Journal of Nursing

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Consultancy support, Dosdale, C. (Principal Investigator), Palacký University Olomouc, 13/02/24 - 14/02/24, £844.00
Understanding Sexual Violence Seminar, Dosdale, C. (Principal Investigator), INDIVIDUAL DELEGATES, 01/12/21 - 31/12/21, £4,000.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: Supporting Survivors of Sexual Violence and Abuse in Healthcare: a national conference 2026
Invited talk: Healthcare students’ adherence to rape and sexual harassment myths 2025
Invited talk: ‘Adult experiences of sexual assault disclosures in nursing practice: A phenomenological study’ 2025
Oral presentation: Adult experiences of sexual assault disclosures in nursing practice: A phenomenological study 2025
Oral presentation: Healthcare Students' Adherence to Rape and Sexual Harassment Myths 2024
Oral presentation: Adult Experiences of Sexual Assault Disclosures in Nursing Practice: a phenomenological study 2024
Oral presentation: Experiences of Sexual Assault Disclosures to Nurses: a phenomenological Study 2023
Oral presentation: Engaging Students: Building Communities’ Supporting students to change cultures of gender-based violence on campus: Northumbria Against Sexual Violence 2022
Oral presentation: Undertaking sensitive research 2022
Invited talk: After #metoo: where next - Sexual violence disclosure in healthcare 2018