Upon completion of a B.Sc. degree in Microbiology at the University of Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria at the age of 20 years, she took up various roles including teaching and banking as she explored her career interests and ambitions. Following a period of self reflection and discovery, she decided to come to the United Kingdom to study for a Master's degree in Public Health at the University of Bedfordshire (Luton) where she graduated with a distinction (2012 - 2013). Her Master's dissertation explored the reasons for delayed uptake of the NHS breast screening programme among Black African women in Luton, UK.
She then proceeded to Ulster University, Northern Ireland where she was awarded a Vice-Chancellor's Research Scholarship for her PhD titled 'Post Treatment for Prostate Cancer: The Experiences and Psychosocial Needs of Black African and Black Caribbean Men and their Partners' (2015 - 2019).
Olufikayo is passionate about reducing health inequalities in cancer experiences and outcomes especially among higher risk but under-researched groups. She is particularly interested in the psychosocial aspects of cancer survivorship, and how gender-culture intersections impact on illness experiences and healthcare access/utilisation among Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups.
She is an early career researcher with particular expertise in qualitative research, systematic reviews and evidence synthesis.
Current project:
Undertaking systematic reviews and qualitative studies in cancer research to address key objectives of the TRANSFORMing Cancer Outcomes in Yorkshire project.
Ongoing projects:
Experiences of cancer diagnostic pathways and care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Olufikayo Bamidele, Obrey Alexis, Motolani Ogunsanya, Sarah Greenley, Aaron Worsley,Elizabeth D Mitchell. A systematic review of barriers and facilitators to access and utilisation of post-treatment psychosocial support by black men treated for prostate cancer. PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020171488 Available from:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020171488
Olufikayo Bamidele, Sarah Greenley, Sara Macdonald, Una Macleod, Elizabeth D Mitchell. Asystematic review of factors influencing time to presentation and time to referral for uppergastrointestinal cancers. PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020165756 Available from:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020165756
Research Grants:
Macleod U, Lind M, Mitchell E, Bamidele O, Walabyeki J (2020). Experiences of cancer diagnostic pathways and care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research under the TRANSFORM programme (2 years: £125, 927.17)
Watch Olufikayo's latest video on Qualitative Interviewing in a Virtual Environment
View Olufikayo's publications on ORCID.
Selected publications:
1. Bamidele O., Alexis. O., Ogunsanya. M., Greenley. S., Worsley. A. and Mitchell. E. (2022) A systematic review of barriers and facilitators to access and utilisation of post treatment psychosocial support by Black men treated for prostate cancer. Supportive Care in Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06716-6
2. Bamidele, O. O., & McCaughan, E.(2021). A constructivist grounded theory study on decision-making for treatment choice among Black African and Black Caribbean prostate cancer survivors. European Journal of Cancer Care, e13516. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.13516
3. McIlfatrick, S, Slater, P., Bamidele, O., Muldrew, D., Beck, E., & Hasson, F. (2021). ‘It’s almost superstition: If I don’t think about it, it won’t happen’. Public knowledge and attitudes towards advance care planning: A sequential mixed methods study. 2021. Palliative Medicine 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/02692163211015838
4. McIlfatrick. S, Slater.P., Beck. E., Bamidele. O., McCloskey. S., Carr. K., Muldrew. D., Hanna-Trainor. L and Felicity Hasson. Examining public knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards palliative care: a mixed method sequential study. 2021. BMC Palliative Care 20 (44). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-021-00730-5
5. McIlfatrick, S, Hasson, F. Slater, P., Beck, E., McCloskey, S., Carr, K., Muldrew, D., Bamidele, O., & Hannon-Trainer, L. Advance Care Planning: Exploration of the public’s understanding. Online Poster Presentation at the European Association for Palliative Care, 7.11.2020. P01-377. Available athttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0269216320958098
6. Hasson. F., Nicholson E., Muldrew. D., Bamidele. O., Payne. S. and McIIfatrick. S (2020) International palliative care research priorities: A systematic review. BMC Palliative Care 19:16 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12904-020-0520-8
7. McCaughan. E., O’Connor. S., Flannagan. C., Maguire. R., Connaghan. J., Bamidele. O., Ellis. S., Steele. M., Wittmann. D., Thompson. S., Jain. S., Kirby. M., Brady. N., Parahoo.K. (2019) Maximising Sexual Wellbeing after diagnosis of Prostate Cancer. Developing and Testing Support Resources: A Global Approach. The Journal of Sexual Medicine 16 (4 ): S27 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2019.01.061
8. Bamidele. O (2019) Post Treatment for Prostate Cancer: The Experiences and Psychosocial Needs of Black African and Black Caribbean Men and their Partners. Doctoral thesis, Ulster University.
9. Bamidele, O., McGarvey, H., Lagan, BM., Ali. N., Chinegwundoh, F. and McCaughan, E. 2019 ‘Man in the driving seat’: a grounded theory study of the psychosocial experiences of Black African and Caribbean men treated for prostate cancer and their partners. Psycho-Oncology DOI: 10.1002/pon.5150
10. Bamidele, O., McGarvey, H., Lagan, BM., Ali. N., Chinegwundoh, F. and McCaughan, E. (2018) ‘Hard to reach, but not out of reach’: barriers and facilitators to recruiting Black African and Black Caribbean men with prostate cancer and their partners into qualitative research. European Journal of Cancer Care DOI: 10.1111/ecc.12977
11. Bamidele, O., Lagan, BM., McGarvey, H., Wittmann, D and McCaughan, E. (2018) “…It might not have occurred to him that this woman that is taking care of me has some emotional needs as well…”: The unheard voices of wives of Black African and Black Caribbean men with prostate cancer. Journal of Supportive Care in cancer DOI: 10.1007/s00520-018-4398-4
12. Bamidele, O., McGarvey, H., Lagan, BM., Ali. N., Chinegwundoh, F., Parahoo, K. and McCaughan, E. (2017) Life after prostate cancer: a systematic literature review and thematic synthesis of the post treatment experiences of Black African and Black Caribbean men. European Journal of Cancer Care DOI: 10.1111/ecc.12784
13. Bamidele, O., Ali, N., Papadopoulos, C. and Randhawa, G. (2017) Exploring factors contributing to low uptake of the NHS breast cancer screening programme among Black African women in the UK. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care 14(4):212-219
14. Ali, N., Bamidele, O., Randhawa, G., Hoskin, P. and McCaughan E (2017) Constructions of masculinity and help-seeking for prostate cancer. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care 14(5):254-256
Vice-Chancellor's Research Scholarship Award for PhD Research, Ulster University (2015 - 2018)
Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University - Pioneering travel award of £2000 for knowledge exchange and research collaboration visit to the Department of Urology, University of Michigan, Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University, Detroit. (December 2017)
Doctoral College, Ulster University - Semi-finalist, Maiden Edition of the Vitae 3MT Competition (May 2018)
Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University - Runner up, PhD Researcher Impact Award (March 2019)
European Journal of Cancer Care - Certificate of recognition for review paper (Bamidele et al. 2017) making the top 20 most read/most downloaded article for 2017-2018 (June 2019)