Dr Sarah Dean in Cyprus
Dr Sarah Dean reports on her experience presenting her research at the European Health Psychology Society Conference, Cyprus 2015
I have just returned from the 29th EHPS conference on ‘Principles of Behaviour Change in Health and Illness’. This was a great opportunity to hear about research being carried out by health psychologists and practitioners all over the world. As well as presenting my own research on treatment adherence in children with amblyopia or “lazy eye”, I attended 47 short talks, 4 keynote speeches and 3 interactive poster sessions. Topics ranged from organ donation to writing to improve your health. I learnt about ambitious projects to map behaviour change techniques, long term studies that have included certain participants for over 90 years and innovative projects where participants take photos to capture their experiences.
The conference’s theme of “Principles of Behaviour Change in Health and Illness”
Presenters at the conference talked of their experiences working with survivors of rape and war in Sierra Leone, working to reduce chronic pain in children in the USA and exploring individuals’ health beliefs in South Africa. Overall the conference demonstrated just how wide reaching the area of health psychology is and the scope of the work that is done to improve health and quality of life the world over. There was also a bit of time left over for sightseeing and enjoying the sun!
For more information on the European Health Psychology Society and its upcoming conferences see: http://www.ehps.net/
Interested in Health Psychology? The School of Psychology, Sport & Exercise at Staffordshire University offers a range of courses in psychology, including a British Psychological Society Accredited Stage 1 Masters in Health Psychology and a Stage 2 accredited Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology. Staffordshire University was the first UK university to offer an accredited Health Psychology Masters degree and is home to the Centre for Health Psychology.