Health psychology: It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it

Abstract

Despite the growth in theoretical understandings of health behaviour and standardised approaches to health interventions (e.g. behaviour change taxonomies), health psychology has paid comparatively less attention to the importance of the implementation processes – ‘how to’ rather than ‘what to’ of such interventions. The clinical and interpersonal skills that often reflect these implementation processes are poorly defined within the health psychology literature. The level of proficiency in such skills expected of Health and Care Professions Council registered practitioner health psychologists is unclear and poorly documented within the UK training requirements. This article explores the potential impact of this and offers some pragmatic solutions.