Image courtesy of Kevin Turner
Winners of The British Psychological Society, Division of Health Psychology, Research Networking and Public Engagement Prize, Dr Jane Meyrick and Kevin Turner, from UWE Bristol, hosted an online event to discuss and explore the unique contributions of health psychology to the dynamic field of sexual health.
Over 100 delegates registered for the webinar including public health specialists, sexual health physicians, pharmacists, third sector volunteers, researchers, therapists, commissioners, behavioural scientists and students from a range of professional training programmes.
Paul Flowers, Professor in Sexual Health Psychology at the University of Strathclyde opened the event with a keynote address around the use of health psychology theory and methods. Paul drew upon several case studies to demonstrate the application of health psychology across a range of projects to show how we contribute:
- Understanding lived experience (qualitative research)
- Optimising individual interventions (behaviour change) and provide
- Service design and programme theory (logic models/theory of change).
In doing so he encouraged us to both celebrate and grow the diversity of approaches and topics within sexual health psychology.
Dr Claire Dewsnap, President of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), set us the challenge of meeting key STI threats in the UK, including the emergency of new sexually transmitted infections, delayed presentations for syphilis, antimicrobial resistance and the national HIV action plan, which aims to achieve 0 new HIV infections by 2030. Claire advocated for the critical role of psychologists in addressing ongoing issues around decision making, risk reduction and access to care including the need for activism around funding shortfalls and how the recent MPox outbreak had stress tested supposed gains over stigma in sexual health.
The issue of access to care, was addressed by active and prominent contributors working within the field. The acceptability and feasibility of chatbots for sexual and reproductive health was presented by Dr Tom Nadarzynski, a chartered health psychologist based at the University of Westminster who discussed using informatics to meet the needs of individuals with focused evidence around their potential for functions such as information provision.
Within his presentation, Uzochi Nwaosu, a Sexual Health Adviser and Trainee Health Psychologist at the University of the West of England (UWE) took on the disproportionate burden of sexually transmitted infection carried by racially minoritised communities, and used his doctoral research to explore the experiences and needs of black heterosexual men living in London facing barriers to GUM services
Kevin Turner presented the under-represented health and wellbeing needs of male sex workers. Findings from his research as a part of the Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology at UWE advocated for future interventions to encompass a combination of behavioural, biomedical and structural approaches in addition to being grounded in the actual rather than perceived needs, of men accepting rewards for sex, sexual content. His work raised issues of identity and problematic labelling of this population.
Organisers Jane Meyrick and Kevin Turner commented on the “authentic and vital nature of the event”. A sentiment further echoed by delegates who feedback that the event was useful in developing their interest in sexual health and health psychology, many finding the content relevant to their professional practice. Prof Paul Flowers described the webinar as a “key forum from which we can develop further and learn from each other”. Participants described it as:-
“Well worth a watch for anyone interested in psychology and sexual health”
“Really thought provoking and innovative”
“Really interesting and informative. You know it’s great when you can’t believe it’s come to an end”
Twitter amplified the reach of the session with over 10,000 impressions and lots of retweeting action with compliments from attendees such as:
“Totally spectacular – from start to finish! This is 100% perfect! Thank you all! David (@David_T_Evans)”
The organisers are hoping to take the webinar to an international audience through a symposium at the World Congress of HIV + STIs.
A recording of the webinar can be accessed from:
Event organisers can be contacted via: