Professor Tracy Finch

Professor

School: Healthcare and Nursing Sciences

Tracy is Professor of Healthcare & Implementation Science in the Department of Nursing, Midwifery & Health, having joined Northumbria University in November 2017. Tracy has a background in health psychology, with broad experience in teaching and research. She has built her academic career in the UK with appointments at Manchester University & Newcastle University, after completing her PhD in 1999, from Deakin University, Australia.

Tracy’s research focuses on how we can understand and support the implementation of complex interventions in health, care and wellbeing. Tracy is known for her work in implementation science, most notably Normalization Process Theory (NPT), of which she is co-developer, and for developing tools and assessment instruments to support non-academic users conducting implementation work in practice settings. Key areas of Tracy’s current work include development and evaluation of theory-informed implementation toolkits (eg. ItFits-toolkit), advancing conceptual and practical work on ‘tailored implementation’, and on understanding how implementation outcome measurements can be more pragmatic (eg. NoMAD). Leading process evaluations in complex intervention trials and other studies, her research is applied to a broad range of health issues, health and care interventions, and new care processes and pathways.

Campus Address

Room B126 Coach Lane Campus West
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE7 7XA

Email Tracy

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Key areas of expertise:

Implementation science - theory and tools
Health and social care interventions
Process evaluation methodology

Key current projects include:

IDEAS: InterDisciplinary Evaluation of complex innovations in heAlth And Social care. National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) National Evaluation Team. 2025-2030.

PHORM: The development and co-design of a (person-centred) primary care (clinical) PHarmacist led Osteoporosis Review for optimising Medicines. Royal Osteoporosis Society. 2023-2025.

Curious about Care: Promoting values-based recruitment in community dementia support through situational judgement tests. NIHR Research for patient benefit. 2023-2025.

REFUEL-MS: Developing, optimising and implementing a blended digital self-management treatment for fatigue in multiple sclerosis. NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research. 2022-2027.

EQUIPD: An evaluation of quality improvement collaboratives aligned to a national audit to improve the uptake of insulin pumps for people with diabetes. NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR). 2022-2025.

What is ‘equivalence’ in policy custody healthcare? Economic and Social Research Council. 2021-2025.

Health checks for autistic adults: Design and evaluation of an autism-specific health check for use with autistic adults in NHS Primary Care. Autistica and NHS England. 2018-2025.

Key completed projects:

ImpleMentAll: Towards evidence-based tailored implementation strategies for eHealth. European Commission H2020. 2017-2021. Key outputs: ItFits-toolkit for self-guided tailored implementation strategies and I-STEM Model and resources for stakeholder engagement for implementation.

NoMAD: Improving the normalisation of complex interventions: Developing quantitative measures for users based on Normalisation Process Theory. Economic and Social Research Council. 2012-2015. Key outputs: (1) Measure development and (2) validation.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Acceptability and Implementation of a Primary Care Health Check for Autistic People: Findings From Evaluation Questionnaires and Interviews, Merrick, H., Taylor, H., Ingham, B., Finch, T., Al-Ashmori, S., Herrington, R., Scarlett, C., Buckley, C., Cooper, S., Fernandez-Garcia, C., Haining, S., Lees, R., Lennox, N., Moss, S., Nicholls, T., Nicolaidis, C., Osborne, M., Raymaker, D., Robinson, T., Urbanowicz, A., Wason, J., Wilson, C., Parr, J. 1 Aug 2026, In: Autism
A cluster randomised controlled trial, process and economic evaluation of two large-scale quality improvement interventions embedded with a national clinical audit to improve the care for young adults with type 2 diabetes (EQUIPD2): Study protocol, Sykes, M., Finch, T., Girling, M., O'Halloran, E., Medcalf-Bell, R., Foy, R. 3 Feb 2026, In: Implementation Science
Assessing the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of REFUEL-MS, a digital therapeutic for multiple sclerosis-related fatigue: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial, Fawson, S., Mortimer, H., Abouzahr, A., Proudfoot, H., Ibrahim, E., Dodsworth, N., Jackson, T., Milne-Ives, M., Sanders, T., Finch, T., Thomas, S., Freeman, J., van der Linden, M., Mercer, T., Williams, V., Barrett, B., Norton, S., Moss-Morris, R. 23 Jul 2026, In: Trials
Desired Support and Design Preferences for a Supported Self‐Management Intervention for People With Lower‐Grade Gliomas: Co‐Design Findings From the Ways Ahead Project, Rimmer, B., Williams, S., Lewis, J., Dutton, L., Burns, R., Gallagher, P., Araújo-Soares, V., Finch, T., Sharp, L. Jul 2026, In: Psycho-Oncology
“Everything I Had, I Lost”: Survivors’ Lived Experiences of Late Radiotherapy Side Effects Following Head and Neck Cancer Treatment: A Qualitative Study, Sellstrom, D., Patterson, J., Haighton, C., O'Hara, J., Finch, T. 11 May 2026, In: Cancer Nursing
Implementing palliative care in intensive care units: assessing processes using the normalisation process theory NoMAD instrument, Meddick-Dyson, S., Finch, T., Boland, J., Pearson, M., Bradshaw, A., Murtagh, F. 22 May 2026, In: Implementation Science Communications
Insights from healthcare professionals on enhancing fatigue management in chronic conditions: a qualitative study, Barakou, I., Hackett, K., Hettinga, F., Finch, T. 2 Jan 2026, In: Disability and Rehabilitation
Integrating a family support intervention in intensive care units: A mixed-methods summative evaluation with health professionals, Oesch, S., Verweij, L., Riguzzi, M., Finch, T., Clack, L., Naef, R. 1 Feb 2026, In: International Journal of Nursing Studies
Mapping pre-hospital research presented at UK conferences between 2010 and 2023: a bibliometric study, McClelland, G., Haworth, D., Charlton, K., Thompson, L., Finch, T., Williams, J. 1 Mar 2026, In: British Paramedic Journal
Supporting someone after their stroke: family members’ views and experiences of self-management, McCarthy, L., Kylén, M., Gustavsson, C., Finch, T., Jones, F., Elf, M. 2 Jan 2026, In: Disability and Rehabilitation

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Developing an NIHR Health and Social care Delivery Research (HSDR) national evaluation team: InterDisciplinary Evaluation of complex innovations in heAlth and Social care (IDEAS) Centre, Bate, A. (Principal Investigator), Finch, T. (Co Investigator), National Institute for Health Research, 01/02/25 - 31/01/30, £3,028,752.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Invited talk: ASME, AGM: How can theory help us? Exploring Normalization Process Theory (NPT) as a tool for implementing new ideas in practice and education 2019

PGR Supervision

Jane Douthwaite An action research study of the process of co-created improvements in a Midwifery service context and stakeholders experience of participation Start Date: 24/07/2020
Dara Roisin Fallen Bailey To develop an enhanced understanding of the cultural and organisational factors influencing the implementation of physical activity and early mobilisation on acute surgical wards within the setting of a multidisciplinary ERAS pathway. Start Date: 01/10/2024
Karen Corder 'How can patient self-management of the physical and psychological aspects of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) be improved through co-design approaches to intervention?' Start Date: 01/03/2019 End Date: 20/03/2026
Ioulia Barakou ??Understanding and Enhancing Fatigue Management in Chronic Conditions: Exploring the Role of Activity Pacing and Physical Activity? Start Date: 01/04/2022 End Date: 08/07/2025