On 19 April 2023, the Health Psychology and Interventions Group (HPIG) and the Bristol Poverty Institute (BPI) at the University of Bristol jointly hosted a half day workshop event titled "Don't Be Poor: Collaborative Approaches to Health Behaviour Interventions".
The event successfully brought together a diverse group of academics, healthcare professionals, policy makers, and other professionals from Bristol and the surrounding area together to consider the context of poverty and health behaviour. HPIG’s Dr Anna Pease led the day.
The workshop featured keynote talks by:
- Professor David Gordon, Head of the BPI who provided an overview of poverty and its relevance to health.
- Dr Michelle Constable, Head of the Hertfordshire Behaviour Change Unit and Chair of the Behavioural Science and Public Health Network (BSPHN) shared her expertise in behavioural systems mapping applied to different health context
- Dr Roseanna Brady, Consultant Health Psychologist, presented on one-to-one clinical work with chronic pain patients considering in the context of poverty deprivation, showcasing the challenges of delivering effective health interventions to those living in poverty.
After the expert talks, attendees had a coffee break followed by breakout group sessions. Three roundtable discussions were set up in separate rooms to focus on the following topics:
1) Stakeholders and involvement
2) Context and policy engagement
3) What needs to change and what are your first steps towards this change?
Each discussion was facilitated by one of our expert speakers together with HPIG facilitators. Participants formed groups and contributed to engaging discussions before moving to a different discussion room with a different topic. This provided opportunities for attendees to network with each other, and to discuss their own experiences, challenges and expertise, consider key themes in the context of their own work as well as consult the expert speakers in the room.
The afternoon finished with HPIG facilitators summarising the discussions, and inviting attendees to write a commitment for one action they will take as a result of coming to the afternoon session on a pledge card.
We tweeted photos and comments throughout the day with the hashtag ‘#DontBePoor’ from the @HPIGBristol Twitter account.