Dr Katherine Brown C.Psychol FHEACoventry University

OverviewIntroduce myself and my roleBriefly introduce Health PsychologyMy work in more depth

Sexual health intervention design (and all the work that comes before it!)

What jobs are out there? Health Psychology and the NHSResearch and academic postsBeyond?

How do you train? How much can you earn?

My role(s)Dr Katherine Brown C.PsycholChartered Health PsychologistSenior Lecturer in Psychology Course director for MSc Health PsychologyBased in Psychology DepartmentAffiliated with Applied Research Centre in

Health & Lifestyle Interventions (ARC-HLI)Head of Study of Adolescent Sexual Health (SASH)

Research groupHonorary secretary, British Psychological

Society - Division of Health Psychology (BPS – DHP)

What is Health Psychology?Broad disciplineRelatively newSocial Psychology‘practice and application of

psychological methods to the study of human (thinking and) behaviour relevant to health, illness and health care’ NHS (2007)

Three major areasHealth behaviour change

Biological, psychological and social determinants of health related behaviour and outcomes

Health care delivery and healthcare environmentsEffective communication, understanding the impact of

type of healthcare experience on physical health outcomes

Understanding illness experienceGaining information about illness experience, quality

of life and so on particularly in relation to chronic disease and painful conditions – can help inform better healthcare

Overlaps with…Social PsychologyClinical PsychologyOccupational PsychologyForensic PsychologyEnvironmental PsychologyNeuropsychologyCognitive Psychology

Health psychology and sexual health

Under 18 conceptions The provisional 2005 under 18 conception rate for England of 41.1 per 1000 girls aged 15-17 represents an overall decline of 11.8% since 19981 – the baseline year for the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. The under 18 conception rate is at its lowest level for 20 years. Table 1: Under 18 Conceptions for England: 1998-2005

Year Number of under 18

conceptions

Under 18

conception rate*

Percent leading to legal abortion

1998 41,089 46.6 42.4

1999 39,247 44.8 43.5

2000 38,699 43.6 44.8

2001 38,461 42.5 46.1

2002 39,350 42.6 45.8

2003 39,553 42.1 46.1

2004 39,593 41.5 46.0

2005** 39,683 41.1 46.9 Source: Office for National Statistics, 2007 *per thousand females aged 15-17 **provisional

1 All changes in rate calculated from un-rounded rates

Under 16 conceptions The provisional under 16 conception rate for England in 2005 was 7.8 per 1000 girls aged 13-15. This is 12.1% lower than the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy’s 1998 baseline rate of 8.8 conceptions per 1000 girls aged 13-15Error! Bookmark not defined..

Table 2: Under 16 Conceptions for England, 1998-2005:

Year Under 16 conceptions

Under 16

conception rate*

Percent leading to legal abortion

1998 7,855 8.8 52.9

1999 7,408 8.2 53.0

2000 7,620 8.3 54.5

2001 7,407 8.0 56.0

2002 7,395 7.9 55.7

2003 7,558 7.9 57.6

2004 7,181 7.5 57.6

2005** 7,462 7.8 57.4 Sources: Office for National Statistics, 2007 *per thousand females aged 13-15 **provisional

Numbers of conceptions in 15-17 year old women in England in three year periods (blue) compared with estimates of reduction required to

achieve 2010 targets (pink)

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20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

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2000 to2002

2001 to2003

2002 to2004

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Increasing STI rates

All of this despite…

My work in more depthBehaviour change approachApplied to sexual health intervention design

Bayer work on emergency contraception What shall we tell the children? – Coventry and

Warwickshire PCTsVoID

Stage 1 – behavioural change not part of current practice

Stage 2 – Warwickshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=pk3yFJBN

91QS0eEr62lySQ_3d_3dEurope and Africa plans

What jobs are out there?Health Psychology and the NHSPost in NHS are often competency basedHealth Psychologists often not specifically

asked for in job advertisement

http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.cgi?selection=912118157

NHS jobs in…Research jobs

Hospital R & DJoint posts with academia

Clinical GovernanceAuditService improvementNICE guidance

ManagementStrategy – DoH/Regional Authority

And in….Behaviour Change

Smoking/drugsWeight managementScreening

Chronic disease carePalliative CarePublic Health

Research and academic postsExist in all areas of researchUniversitiesResearch centresAnd in NHS in some cases

http://www.health-psychology.org.uk/advertisements/HealthPsychologyPosts.php

And beyond?New, exciting and developing disciplineRequires intelligent, motivated individuals to be

involved and to help move things forwardThese people need to understand research, theory and

evidence AND be able to translate into evidence-based practice

VSO & Papua New GuineaEmergence of private companies delivering this kind of

expertise PMA – Public Management Associates. Health Behaviour Change Ltd -

http://www.healthbehaviourresearch.co.uk/home.asp?parent_id=1

How do you train?BPS accredited degree providing GBR2:1 or aboveBPS accredited MSc Health Psychology

Stage 1 qualification towards chartered status

Stage 2 qualificationThrough supervised portfolio routeOr accredited doctoral programmeStaffordshire, UCL, University of Surrey &

Institute of Psychiatry all offer doctorates

How much can you earn?Research posts start at around £24 000 +Lectureships - £28 000 +Pay can go up to £46-50 K +

NHS has different pay scales but not dissimilarOpportunities for extra income (consultancy,

books, external examining)Perks (e.g. foreign travel)

More informationCourses: Contact courses direct for more information about

content, entry requirements, application procedure etc….http://www.bps.org.uk/careers/accredited-courses/accredited-

courses_home.cfm

SMG: the Students Members Group of the BPS. A networking group for undergraduates in psychology. The website has very useful interviews on with psychologists on various career paths.

http://www.bps.org.uk/sub-sites$/smg/smg_home.cfm

DHP: the Division of Health Psychology of the BPS. Access to publications, conferences, and special interest groups and chat rooms with membership.

http://www.bps.org.uk/sub-sites$/dhp/dhp_home.cfm

http://www.bps.org.uk

Jobs advertised at…Appointments Memorandumwww.appmemo.co.ukwww.jobs.ac.ukThe Guardian, The Times, The Independent

etcIn specialist publications from the Health

Service Journal and DoH website .DHP website