BSc (Hons), MSc (Buckingham), PhD (Warwick)
Jenna joined The University of Buckingham as a Lecturer in Psychology in 2023, having previously been a visiting lecturer since 2017. She specialises in the area of Health Psychology, teaching on the MSc Health Psychology course as well as various modules on the undergraduate degree programme. Jenna completed her undergraduate and MSc degrees here at Buckingham, before moving to work as a Research Assistant on the MRC-funded “Warwick Study of Mental Defeat in Chronic Pain” at the University of Warwick, Sleep and Pain Lab. She went on to conduct a PhD exploring the role of self-compassion in chronic pain at the University of Warwick.
Jenna is a passionate presenter who enjoys disseminating findings at national and international conferences as well as widening participation for non-academics. She has featured on multiple episodes of the Pain Concern Podcast “Airing Pain” discussing her research and the role of self-compassion in pain. She also endorses outreach events to help young people access and progress in STEM subjects.
Research interests
Jenna’s area of specialism is Health Psychology, with extensive research experience in various patient populations. She is primarily a quantitative researcher but has also published mixed-methods and qualitative studies.
Her main research is investigating biopsychosocial factors relevant to chronic pain, having worked with people who have various chronic pain conditions such as: chronic low-back pain, fibromyalgia, IBD (Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis), arthritis, spinal cord injury, migraines, Ehlers Danlos syndrome, ME/CRPS, endometriosis etc. Her work focuses on improving understanding of chronic pain experiences and developing evidence-based, theory-driven interventions/research. She has a special interest in understanding the application of self-compassion to pain-related outcomes and her PhD was also based in this area.
In addition to chronic pain, Jenna also strives to improve health promotion strategies and uses models such as the COM-B framework for investigating other long-term health conditions and health behaviours. For published works and international collaborative projects please see below.
Recent Publications & Conference Presentations
- Gillett, J. L., Rakhimov, A., Karadag, P., Themelis, K., Ji, C., & Tang, N. K. (2025). Self-compassion in chronic pain: Validating the self-compassion scale short-form and exploring initial relationships with pain outcomes. British Journal of Pain, 20494637241312070. Link
- Themelis, K., Gillett, J. L., Karadag, P., Cheatle, M. D., Ilgen, M. A., Balasubramanian, S., Swaran, S. P. & Tang, N. K. (2025). Mental Defeat Predicts Increased Suicide Risk in Chronic Pain: A 12‐Month Prospective Study. European Journal of Pain, 29(2), e4779. Link
- Themelis, K., Gillett, J. L., Cheatle, M. & Tang, N. K. Y. (2024) Parallel Session: Pain and Suicide: Exploring Risk-Factors, Opioid Use and Potential Targets for Intervention. British Pain Society 57th Annual Scientific Metting 2024, Nottingham, UK.
- Themelis, K., Gillett, J. L., Karadag, P., Cheatle, M. D., Giordano, N. A., Balasubramanian, S., Singh, S. P. & Tang, N. K. Y. (2023). Mental defeat and suicidality in chronic pain: a prospective longitudinal analysis. Journal of Pain. Learn more.
- Gillett, J. L., Rakhimov, A., Karadag, P., Themelis, K., Ji, C., Balasubramanian, S., Singh, S. P. & Tang, N. K. Y. (2023) Self-Compassion in Chronic Pain: Evaluating the Self-Compassion Scale Short-Form and Exploring initial Relationships in Pain Outcomes. British Pain Society 56th Annual Scientific Meeting 2023, Glasgow, UK.
- Themelis, K., Gillett, J. L., Karadag, P., Cheatle, M. D., Giordano, N. A., Balasubramanian, S., Singh, S. P., Tang, N. K. Y., (2023). Prospective predictors of suicide risk in patients with chronic pain: An investigation into the role of mental defeat. British Pain Society 56th Annual Scientific Meeting 2023, Glasgow, UK.
- Gillett, J.L., Karadag P., Themelis, K., Li, Y.M, Lemola S., Balasubramanian S., Singh, S., & Tang, N.K.Y. (2023). Investigating mental defeat in individuals with chronic pain: Protocol for a longitudinal experience sampling study. BMJ open, 13(2), e066577. Learn more
- Gillett, J. L., Karadag, P., Themelis, K., Balasubramanian, S., Singh, S. P., Ji, C. & Tang, N. K. Y., (2022). Exploring the role of self-compassion in chronic pain: Associations with key outcomes. IASP 2022 World Congress on Pain, Toronto, Canada.
- Themelis, K., Gillett, J. L., Karadag, P., Balasubramanian, S., Singh, S. P. & Tang, N. K. Y., (2022). Mental defeat and suicidality in chronic pain: A prospective longitudinal analysis. IASP 2022 World Congress on Pain, Toronto, Canada.
- Themelis, K., Gillett, J. L., Karadag, PK, Balasubramanian, S., Singh, S. P., Tang, N. K. Y., (2022). Does mental defeat experienced by people with chronic pain change over time? Patterns of change over 6 months and prospective predictors. IASP 2022 World Congress on Pain, Toronto, Canada
- Finlay, K. A., Hearn, J. H., Gillett, J. L., Ratwatte, P., Morton-Bye, J., & Chater, A. M. (2022). Adaptations to mindfulness-based interventions for neurological impairment: The SMALL PROMPTS approach. Rehabilitation Psychology, 67(3), 391–404. Learn more
- Collard, V. E., Gillett, J. L., Themelis, K., & Tang, N. K. (2021). An exploratory investigation into the effects of mental defeat on pain threshold, pain rating, pain anticipation, and mood. Current Psychology, 1-12. Learn more
- Gillett, J. L., Duff, J., Eaton, R., & Finlay, K. (2020). Psychological outcomes of MRSA isolation in spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Spinal cord series and cases, 6(1), 1-9. Learn more