Behaviour change: it's more than just willpower

The Bump2Baby and Me project’s online forum “Behaviour change: it's more than just willpower” will be held on Thursday 23rd November 2023 at 08.00am GMT (09.00am CET, 19.00 AEDT).

Dr Lucy Porter from the Centre of Behaviour Change at University College London will present on What is behaviour change and why is it so important to healthcare, including common challenges and important considerations for sustainable change. Dr Porter has extensive experience in applying behavioural science theories and frameworks to develop health behaviour change interventions in academic and policy settings.

Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a growing burden worldwide. Affecting around one in eight pregnant women, its impact on healthcare services is significant and has serious short-term and long-term public health implications for the life of the mothers and new-borns. GDM risks include pregnancy complications such as caesarean section, future development of type 2 diabetes. The Bump2Baby and Me project aims to develop and test a healthcare intervention to help prevent maternal and child diabetes, overweight and obesity and other non-communicable associated diseases.

One key aspect of the Bump2Baby and Me healthcare intervention is the integration of behaviour change techniques to empower individuals to increase the practice of health-promoting behaviours.

This forum will feature short presentations from the Bump2Baby and Me project team, including Professor Sharleen O’Reilly, Katie Angotti, Elena Rey Velasco and Kate Wall. Presentations will focus on:

• What is behaviour change and why is it so important to healthcare, including common challenges and important considerations for sustainable change.
• Understanding how key elements of behaviour change science have been integrated into the Bump2Baby and Me mHealth Programme.
• A health coach’s experience of using the Bump2Baby and Me intervention and how it supported participants’ behaviour change.
• Digital empathy in action: how to build bridges to positive lifestyle changes within health coaching.

These presentations will be followed by an informal discussion.

The forum will be open to all policymakers, healthcare decision makers, health service commissioners, and service users. It will provide the opportunity to network and engage with peers and to share knowledge and best practice, as well as ensuring effective, bi-directional dialogue between policy and health stakeholders and researchers.

Register now.