Blogs - Practical Health Psychology

2026-02-262026-03-03Goal setting, Habit, Interventions, Physical activity, Public Health, Self-regulation

Sid mindre: Små ændringer, der gør en stor forskel

Af Zofia Szczuka, SWPS University, Polen og Deakin University, Australien

Stillesiddende adfærd: mere end bare “ikke at være aktiv”

De sundhedsmæssige fordele ved at være fysisk aktiv er velkendte. Men giver vi lige så meget opmærksomhed til det, man kalder stillesiddende adfærd?

Stillesiddende adfærd er alle de vågne aktiviteter i løbet af dagen, hvor vi sidder eller ligger ned og bruger meget lidt energi fra vores kroppe – for eksempel ved skrivebordet, foran fjernsynet eller på mobilen. Det er vigtigt at forstå, at stillesiddende adfærd ikke er det samme som lav fysisk aktivitet. Du kan sagtens jogge 30 minutter hver morgen og alligevel sidde ned det meste af resten af dagen på arbejde eller derhjemme.

(more…)

2026-01-262026-03-05Behavioural theory, Communication, Interventions, Public Health

Støtte til sundhedsarbejdere i håndtering af vaccinetøven

Af Dawn Holford, University of Bristol, UK, Linda Karlsson, University of Turku, Finland, Frederike Taubert, Erfurt University, Germany, Emma C. Anderson, University of Bristol, UK, Virginia C. Gould, University of Bristol, UK

At rette misforståelser om vaccination

Vaccination er et af de mest succesfulde folkesundhedsværktøjer — man anslår, at vacciner redder 6 liv hvert minut. Men vacciner møder også modstand, og udbredt misinformation undergraver tilliden og giver sundhedsarbejdere store udfordringer. Hvordan kan sundhedsarbejdere følge med strømmen af falske fortællinger om vacciner? Og hvad kan de sige til patienter, som henviser til disse fortællinger som grund til ikke at lade sig selv eller deres børn vaccinere?

(more…)

2025-10-302026-03-03E-health, Mental Health

Nytænkning af aldring – for at forblive aktiv og sund

Af Aïna Chalabaev, Grenoble Alpes Universitet, Frankrig

Som nævnt i et tidligere indlæg, er de sundhedsmæssige fordele ved regelmæssig fysisk aktivitet veldokumenterede for personer på 65 år og derover. Verdenssundhedsorganisationen (WHO) har udarbejdet klare retningslinjer for, hvor meget og hvilken type motion der giver sundhedsgevinster. Alligevel er ældre mennesker stadig blandt de mest fysisk inaktive grupper i verden.

(more…)

2025-08-052025-12-08Interventions, Self-regulation

MyLifeTool: A person-centred, holistic approach to the self-management of long-term conditions

By Dr Stephanie Kılınç, Teesside University, UK and Jo Cole, the Tees Valley, Durham and North Yorkshire Neurological Alliance, UK

Long-term conditions are a major concern for global health care systems given their high prevalence and disease burden, including their significant impact on disability-adjusted life years. They also have a significant negative impact on health-related quality of life and are associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression than the general population.

MyLifeTool is a self-management tool for people living with any long-term condition (e.g. diabetes, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, asthma, anxiety, neurodevelopmental conditions, Acquired Brain Injury, Fibromyalgia). It was developed in partnership with people with long-term conditions, members of Neuro Key and psychologists from Teesside University. It is underpinned by our self-management framework which takes a person-centred, non-instructive perspective on self-management. People with long-term conditions were at the heart of the project, forging the decisions on what MyLifeTool would become and choosing the name. (more…)

2025-07-252026-01-30Interventions, Public Health

Above Water: Rethinking Drowning Prevention at All Levels

By Kyra Hamilton, Griffith University, Australia and Amy Peden, University of New South Wales, Australia

Drowning is a leading, yet largely preventable, cause of death and injury that remains underrecognized. One common myth: drowning isn’t always fatal. The definition of drowning was revised to clarify that drowning is a process, not an outcome. The outcomes of the drowning process can be death (fatal drowning) or survival with or without persisting injury such as cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain (non-fatal drowning). Terms like “dry drowning”, “secondary drowning”, or “near-drowning” are often used in the media, but they’re outdated and medically inaccurate, so it’s time to stop using them. (more…)

2025-04-152026-01-30Habit

Old habits die hard: Disrupting unwanted habitual behaviour

By Annabel Stone and Phillippa Lally, University of Surrey, UK

The New Year is often a time where we aim for change, determined to form new habits and to leave our bad habits behind as the clock strikes midnight. Dusting off our running trainers, filling our shopping trollies with fresh fruit and veg… who hasn’t thought “New Year, New Me”? But a month down the line, why is it our trainers have only seen daylight twice, and that fresh fruit is starting to fur? It seems our bad habits have followed us into the New Year. (more…)

2025-02-212025-11-04Communication, Interventions, Physical activity

Making Every Health Care Consultation Count: Promoting physical activity in health care settings

By Amanda Daley, Loughborough University, UK

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Making Every Contact Count initiative aims to use the thousands of consultations that take place every day between health professionals and patients, to promote healthy behavioural changes. Specifically, Making Every Contact Count aims to enable and encourage health professionals to capitalise on naturally occurring opportunities in routine practice to deliver brief health behaviour change interventions to patients. The success of approaches such as Making Every Contact Count are dependent on health professionals being willing to have these conversations in consultations every day. Making Every Contact Count is for everyone, and it is not restricted to specific health professionals, health services or patients. For these reasons, Making Every Contact Count may reduce health inequalities because the idea is that an inclusive approach is taken whereby all patients receive this support within consultations.

(more…)

2024-12-092026-03-03Cancer, Fear

What if it comes back? The question that is on the minds of those who experienced cancer treatment and their loved ones

By Gozde Ozakinci, University of Stirling

Cancer is very much associated with scary statistics. For instance, like the one ‘1 in 2 people will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime’. But there are encouraging developments too that suggests that cancer survival rates are improving. The last count in 2018 suggests that there are nearly 44 million people who survived the cancer diagnosis and treatment in the world. This is welcome news to those who have experienced cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The improvement in survival rates also means that more and more people live with the consequences of cancer treatment. One of these consequences is experiencing fears about cancer coming back. In the literature, it is defined as “fear, worry, or concern relating to the possibility that cancer will come back or progress” and recognised widely as one of the most significant issues that impact on the quality of life of those living after a cancer diagnosis. (more…)

2024-05-242025-11-04Communication

Understanding what influences organ donation

By Dr Lee Shepherd, Northumbria University, UK and Professor Ronan E. O’Carroll, University of Stirling, UK and Professor Eamonn Ferguson, University of Nottingham, UK

There are numerous stories of how deceased organ transplantation has offered a lifeline for people. Indeed, each deceased organ donor can change the lives of up to nine people. However, there are too few organs available for transplantation. This shortage results in large waiting lists and people dying before they receive an organ. Therefore, we need to understand what factors influence the likelihood that someone will donate their organs when they die.

(more…)

Subscribe