Dr Cristina Quinones

Professional biography

Interplay between work-health. I am interested in the ways work can make us ill, and how certain coping strategies may exacerbate this situation.  Specifically, I have researched emotional labour, work-home boundaries, burnout, counterproductive coping strategies like compulsive work or compulsive internet use and the effectiveness of psychological interventions. This was the main focus of my early academic work, which began with my PhD and was subsequently extended partly by the funding secured through successful bids like:

• 2010-2012-Co-investigator. Emotional Labour, burnout and overall  well being in the service sector: A cross-cultural and multi-method study. Autonoma University of Madrid.
• 2013-2015-Principal investigator. Two-wave cross-national exploration of compulsive internet use and work. The British Academy/Leverhulme Trust
• 2014-2015-Co-investigator. Exploring the always on culture. The British Psychological society
• 2015-2016- Principal investigator. Brief intervention on early signs of compulsive work and compulsive internet use. The Richard Benjamin Trust:
• 2015-2016-Co-investigator. Building e-resilience for the always on culture. Balance Network

Motherhood, identity and health. I am interested in examining social constructions of (good) motherhood, and the identity work mothers engage in as they  raise their children. I am also interested in mothering practices,  and ways in which adherence and/or resistance to dominant motherhood discourses influences mothers’ mental health.  A couple of recent projects in this area include a psychosocial intervention on new-mothers’ guilt and a critique piece of the breastfeeding “breast is best” slogan.

I have developed a view of psychology as an open field in necessary dialogue with relevant social sciences like anthropology, sociology and philosophy. In the beginning of my career,  my research methods were grounded in positivism. I used a number of research designs including randomized controlled trials, quantitative diary studies and large scale surveys. Whilst I still see the value and continue to use quantitative methods when required, my research experience and my cross-disciplinary work have led me to adopt a constructivist stance, which allows me to use a variety of qualitative designs and methods like autoethnograpy and reflexive thematic analysis.

In her previous roles Cristina designed and led Organisational Behaviour modules at Postgraduate and Undergraduate level, she also taught  Health Psychology, Cross-Cultural Management, Research Methods, various HR modules.

At the OU,  Cristina  was the Qualification Lead for the MSc in HRM until 2019 and worked in different module teams like  "People and Organisations" (B628), and the MBA elective module "Creative Management" (B842). She has chaired the MSc compulsory modules "The HR Professional" (B863),  "Workplace Learning with Coaching and Mentoring" (B867).

Cristina has collaborated as a reviewer for the following outlets: International Journal of Human Resource Management, Journal of European Psychology, Journal of Managerial Psychology, the International Human Resource Development Conference, BAM and several  Book Proposals for Wiley.

Cristina collaborates with the Health psychology Research Team from the School of Psychology at the Autonoma University of Madrid.