Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Rachel Baker is Professor of Health Economics in the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University. She has a BA in Economics and Social Policy and a PhD from Newcastle University.
Rachel’s research focusses on the use of mixed methods to elicit societal values with respect to health care resource allocation. Given a fixed budget, the health system faces difficult choices about which treatments and services to fund and, by implication, which will not be funded. Whilst measurement of the costs and benefits of different technologies is crucial to such decisions, there are also implications for the distribution of resources across members of society, and so-called efficient choices may not always be regarded as equitable.
In her doctoral work, funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Rachel applied Q methodology and qualitative methods to economic theories of rationality in the context of health and lifestyle choices. Her Post Doctoral Fellowship was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and included 3 months as a visiting researcher at the University of Calgary, Canada. Rachel used Q methodology to investigate societal perspectives about the principles underlying health care resource allocation as part of national and international research projects investigating the social value of quality-adjusted life years, led by Professor Cam Donaldson (UK Social Value of a QALY and EuroVaQ). She has expertise in the use of health economic approaches to valuation and preference elicitation including Willingness to Pay, Standard Gamble and Person Trade off techniques.
In collaboration with colleagues at GCU, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Rachel led a 3 year research project funded by the Medical Research Council (2011-2014) to investigate societal perspectives on the relative value of life-extending treatments for people with terminal illnesses. This builds on work developing Q survey methods to investigate the distribution of views identified in large respondent samples. Rachel is involved, as co-investigator, in a study of QALY weights and end of life (EQWEL), in work on microfinance and health (FinWell), and on social enterprise and health (CommonHealth).
Rachel is a member of the Wellcome Trust Expert Review Group for Ethics and Society (early career awards) and, from 2012-2016 served on the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research Advisory Committee for the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office. She is Past President of the International Q methodology Society.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Keywords
- Other Public Health
- Health Economics
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Public values, Universal Basic Income and health: developing a mixed-methods study to elicit and deliberate public values for Universal Basic Income and comparator policies in relation to their impact on population health and health inequalities
McHugh, N. (PI), Baker, R. (CoI), Donaldson, C. (CoI), Lightbody, R. (CoI), Watson, V. (CoI) & Bambra, C. (CoI)
Project: Research Grant
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Income Enhancement Services for refugee women in Scotland.
Ibrahim, F. (PI), Biosca Artinano, O. (PI), McHugh, N. (CoI) & Baker, R. (CoI)
Project: Studentship
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CommonHealth Assets: a realist evaluation of how community led organisations impact on health, wellbeing and health inequalities
Baker, R. (PI), Roy, M. (CoI), Mason, H. (CoI), Steiner, A. (CoI), Donaldson, C. (CoI), Kelly, M. (CoI), Porter, S. (CoI), Bartotti, M. (CoI) & Galway, K. (CoI)
National Institute for Health and Care Research, UK Research and Innovation
1/09/21 → 1/09/24
Project: Research Grant
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Financial lives and wellbeing in low-income groups post Covid-19 (Finwell-Covid)
Biosca Artinano, O. (PI), McHugh, N. (CoI), Baker, R. (CoI), Donaldson, C. (CoI), Morgan, A. (CoI) & Morduch, J. (CoI)
Economic and Social Research Council, UK
4/01/21 → 3/01/22
Project: Research Grant
Research output
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Trading-off outcomes and policy characteristics of a Universal Basic Income and a Minimum Income Guarantee: Evidence from an exploratory mixed-method preference-based study
McHugh, N., Bomark, D., Baker, R., Watson, V., Craig, N. & Donaldson, C., Apr 2025, In: Social Science and Medicine. 370, 11 p., 117855.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile14 Downloads (Pure) -
Causes, solutions and health inequalities: comparing perspectives of professional stakeholders and community participants experiencing low income and poor health in London
McHugh, N., Baker, R., Donaldson, C., Bala, A., Mojarrieta, M., White, G. & Biosca Artinano, O., Dec 2024, In: Health Expectations. 27, 6, 12 p., e70128.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile13 Downloads (Pure) -
Charting public views on the meaning of illness severity
Stenmarck, M. S., Whitehurst, D. G. T., Baker, R. & Barra, M., Apr 2024, In: Social Science and Medicine. 347, 10 p., 116760.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Citations (Scopus)44 Downloads (Pure) -
From polarity to plurality: perceptions of COVID-19 and policy measures in England and Scotland
Rendall, J., McHugh, N., Baker, R., Mason, H. & Biosca, O., Jun 2024, In: Health Expectations. 27, 3, 15 p., e14069.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Citations (Scopus)44 Downloads (Pure) -
Is government policy a barrier or facilitator to the work of place-based community-led nonprofits?
Roy, M. J., Rendall, J., Clewett, E., McMullan, J., Read, R., McLean, J., O’Hare, L., Bertotti, M., Kelly, M. & Baker, R., 5 Dec 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Nonprofit Policy Forum. 25 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile13 Downloads (Pure)