psy 02_11 p084_95 news_Layout 1 18/01/2011 13:48 Page 85
news
MORE HEALTHY ‘NUDGES’
substantial indeed – fewer lives lost, better value for money and better health.’ Anyone with examples of how psychology is being, or could be, applied to health is invited to e-mail the Behavioural Insight Team on behaviouralinsights@dh.gsi. gov.uk. David Halpern, director of the BIT and a psychology graduate, told us that economics and law are long-established disciplines in
Whitehall and Westminster, but there is a growing recognition of the importance of psychology. ‘Most policy challenges have a strong behavioural component – from health, to the green agenda, to economic growth and confidence. The creation of the Behavioural Insight Team within government is an acknowledgement of this importance,’ he said. ‘But it is a very small team, and we are very reliant on the wider academic and research community – we are always open to new evidence, ideas and support.’ A related development in December was the creation of
compassion-focused research, put as much free descriptive and training materials as we can on the site, and link compassion-focused therapists around the world.’ ‘In a time when psychology seems to be increasingly marginalised (especially in the NHS), as if it is a luxury, we psychologists must resist this and gain the confidence to point out that many of the world’s problems arise from how our minds work,’ Gilbert said. ‘Rage, vengeance, selfishness, exploitation, empathic failure, along with harnessing the motives for justice, fairness and compassion all come down to how our minds work in specific social contexts. We can be angels or demons. Psychology is no luxury.’ Dr Jeune Guishard-Pine is a consultant psychologist for the NHS and in private practice, and an Associate Fellow of the BPS [see also ‘One on one’, October 2010]. ‘I’m thrilled,’ she told us. ‘I was shocked that it was an OBE [for services to families] rather than an MBE, so I feel really proud of myself.’ Guishard-Pine first became serious about supporting disadvantaged children through education when she was aged just 16 – helping them find a route out of persistent poverty, and finding ways of giving vulnerable children their
a dedicated Behaviour and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge, tasked with informing government policy on assisting people to behave more healthily. The Unit is headed by Chartered Health Psychologist, Professor Theresa Marteau. The Behavioural Insight Team also played a key role in the Giving Green Paper published by the government just before Christmas. This is a public consultation on ways to encourage social action – volunteering, philanthropy and the provision of mutual social support. CJ I For the report, see tinyurl.com/29s2rp2
childhood back. ‘These were the reasons why I decided to be a child psychologist,’ she said. ‘I am proud of my track record of achieving these aims and that the contribution of child Dr Jeune Guishard-Pine psychology to wider society is being noticed in this way.’ Looking to the future, Guishard-Pine is currently fund-raising to conduct research into the viability of developing an accredited counselling skills course for foster carers, ‘because their contribution to children’s wellbeing goes largely unrecognised in a formal way.’ Guishard-Pine’s personal aim is to become a Fellow of the BPS. ‘I hope it’s only a rumour,’ she said, ‘that it would be harder for me to demonstrate that I can be accepted as a Fellow of the BPS than being awarded an OBE! Only time will tell…’ CJ
read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk
The UK charity Teens and Toddlers aims to reduce teenage pregnancies through a programme in which teenagers spend 20 weeks mentoring a toddler. The idea is that the experience brings home the magnitude of the responsibility of bringing up a child. The Welsh Assembly Government and the charity Drinkaware are developing a year-long ad campaign to communicate accurate information about student drinking norms to students. Past research has shown that students consistently overestimate how much their peers drink. Research by Collin Payne at the New Mexico State University College of Business found that shoppers bought more fruit and vegetables when trolleys were designed with a dedicated compartment labelled as being for fruit and veg. The Behavioural Insight Team and Department of Health have formed a partnership with LazyTown, an Icelandic TV show with a healthy superhero character, Sportacus, who motivates children to eat healthily and be more active. When a supermarket chain in Iceland branded their fruit and veg as ‘Sports Candy’, the name used in LazyTown, sales went up by 22 per cent. Blood monitoring can be challenging for children with diabetes and their parents. A collaboration between Bayer Healthcare and Nintendo has led to a Didget device in which children earn game points for consenting to pin-prick bloodsugar tests. A new food hygiene rating scheme aims to make information on restaurant hygiene as salient and accessible as possible, for example by encouraging hygiene-based restaurant league tables and the voluntary use of rating stickers on entrances and windows.
85