Penny Sneddon

Rpsych, PhD

Investigator and Psychologist, BC Children's Hospital

I am a psychologist at BC Children’s Hospital with a broad clinical focus on improving social and emotional functioning in children with chronic illness. Psychological and social factors often interfere with children receiving the most effective health care. For example, anxiety around medical procedures or non-compliance with treatment plans can lead to incomplete or delayed care which can adversely affect a child’s health. Moreover, these issues create stress and waste time for families and health care providers.

Generally, my research has four overarching themes:

- Improving social-emotional functioning in children with chronic illness.

- Mitigating the impact and improving adjustment to serious illness for the child and family unit.

- Measuring the efficacy of interventions that improve compliance with medical treatment.

- Measuring the effectiveness of delivering psychological intervention via various modalities to increase the cost effectiveness and efficiency with which patients receive services.