PSY365 Designing and Piloting a Health Psychology Program to Address SNAP Risk Factors in Australia

Background

Nearly ten years ago, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) called for greater focus on Smoking, Nutrition, Alcohol, and Physical Activity (SNAP) in Australia, in recognition of these making an immense contribution to chronic disease. More recently, Demaio (2021) noted that though Australia was characterized as a “success story” throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it nonetheless brought to light a greater need to support Australians experiencing health inequality and chronic disease. For instance, of all pre-existing chronic conditions associated with COVID-19 deaths in the first year of the pandemic, almost 1 in 3 involved chronic heart disease, with 1 in 6 involving diabetes (AIHW, 2023).

Health and community psychology theories are an important part of addressing SNAP risk factors in Australia, by optimising health and wellbeing. Health psychology takes an individual focus on health behaviours, drawing from theories of emotion, motivation, and social cognition, amongst others, to explain what leads people to engage in behaviours that bring about positive health outcomes, or avoid or mitigate negative health outcomes. Community psychology instead focuses upon the environments and resources that surround individuals, how these shape the kinds of choices individuals can make about their health, and how communities can be empowered to drive change.

This semester, you will work on three interrelated components that make up a broader project:

1. Design a health or community psychology program (Design Program) for the Australian context, that addresses an aspect of SNAP.

2. Brief your implementation team (Oral Presentation) on a pilot phase of the program that incorporates a strategy to inform its implementation success and effectiveness.

3. Write a report (Report) that, assuming your program is successful, considers its potential adaptation and use in a different population context.

Design Program (1000 words) (30%)

Associated Unit Learning Outcomes

1. Synthesise the major principles, theories, and research of health and community psychology within the science practitioner model.

2. Apply psychological theory and research to designing community, health, and psychological wellbeing interventions and programs.

Your task for this assessment

This assessment incorporates the first step in the overarching project.

You have been tasked with designing a program that addresses an aspect of SNAP, drawing from a theory or approach that incorporates health or community psychology. Below are four options – one for aspect of SNAP - with an identified target group, from which you can select1:

1. Decreasing smoking prevalence (i.e., promoting smoking cessation) in Australian men aged 25-54 years (Awu et al., 2024)

2. Increasing vegetable intake in Australian seniors (AIHW, 2018)
3. Decreasing alcohol consumption in Australian women aged 40-65 years (Miller et al., 2022)
4. Increasing exercise in Australian adolescent girls and women (ABS, 2022)

What will I need to include in this assessment?

In 1000 words or less, you will need to include the following:

1. A brief overview of the relevance of the SNAP aspect to the target group, that outlines evidence-based need for your program

2. A description of the relevant health or community psychology theory or approach, and how it informs your program, drawing from scholarly literature

3. An outline of the program design, incorporating theory-based elements, participants, and delivery

PSY365 Oral Presentation (10 minutes) (30%)

Associated Unit Learning Outcomes

1. Apply psychological theory and research to designing community, health, and psychological wellbeing interventions and programs.
2. Design research or evaluation tools for evidence-based assessment and evaluation of health, community, psychological wellbeing interventions and programs.
3. Identify, apply, and integrate ethical and cultural considerations into program design and assessment.'

Your task for this assessment

Essential to the success of any program is a pilot phase, where you can test whether or not the key elements or components of the program are likely to be effective, get a sense of the participant experience, and consider any ethical issues that could impact the broader program rollout.

As the designer of your program, you have been asked to brief your implementation team on its upcoming pilot phase. You have decided to circulate a 10-minute video recorded presentation to the team, that will be discussed at a later team meeting.

What will my oral presentation need to include?

In your 10-minute pre-recorded video presentation (e.g., using Teams), you will need to include:

1. A short (< 1>

2. An overview of the pilot, outlining your plan to test whether it led to change in a key theoretical construct associated with a SNAP aspect, or a SNAP measure itself4

3. A table that addresses the “Six Questions” from Flake and Fried (2020), that allows you to justify your measurement of either the relevant theoretical construct or SNAP aspect5.

4. An overview of how the participant experience will be captured, using the TFA Generic Questionnaire (Sekhon et al., 2022)

5. One discussion point for the implementation team, that incorporates an ethical issue related to the pilot, referring to Section 1 of the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (NHMRC, 2023).

6. A reference list slide, formatted according to APA 7th conventions6.

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