Heather Connolly is a health psychologist and chair of the BPS’s Scottish Branch of the Division of Health Psychology. She explains how health psychology can help to further achieve the aims the Scottish Government has set out in its recently-published Population Health Framework.
The framework sets out a bold ambition: to increase healthy life expectancy while reducing the life expectancy gap between the most deprived 20 per cent of local areas and the national average by 2035.
The 10-year plan recognises that people’s health is shaped far more by their day-to-day lives, where they live, how secure they feel, what they eat, how active they are, and how connected they feel, than by healthcare services alone. It places a more whole-system approach and prevention at the heart of a healthier, fairer Scotland.
But to deliver this vision, we need to understand how and why people make choices, what motivates change, what holds it back and how systems, services and environments can support better health. Public health practitioners have long championed this vision and health psychologists offer additional expertise in how people think, feel, and behave that complements and strengthens these efforts.
Why health psychology matters
Health psychologists apply behavioural science to work alongside individuals, families, communities and services to support sustainable changes that improve health and reduce inequality.
But what might this look like? It could be helping someone to feel confident enough to start moving more after years of inactivity or supporting staff to talk meaningfully about smoking or alcohol without stigma; it could be designing services that feel more accessible and less overwhelming to those who need them most or embedding behaviour change into everyday conversations in healthcare and community settings.
Scotland already benefits from this expertise in national programmes like MAP (Motivation, Action, Prompts) behaviour change training, which helps health and care staff have skilled, evidence-based conversations about behaviour change. But the reach of this expertise is still limited, and the potential is far greater.
How health psychology supports the framework’s priorities
The Population Health Framework is structured around five prevention drivers. In each, health psychologists bring insights and skills that can turn strategy into meaningful action.
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Creating a prevention-focused system
Health psychologists help build a workforce confident in using evidence-based behaviour change approaches. They support culture change by training staff, shaping public health messages, and designing services around what helps people change, not just what we hope they’ll do. For example, health psychologists have helped design psychologically informed weight management services that focus on prevention. By supporting individuals to build confidence and take small, achievable steps early, these services feel more personal and less overwhelming and help people to make changes before health issues become more complex or harder to manage.
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Addressing social and economic factors
Behavioural interventions must work in the real world – especially for people with limited time, resources, or trust in services. Health psychologists co-design support with communities, ensuring it is relevant, respectful, and effective for those most at risk of poor health. In lower income communities, for example, health psychologists work with families to design practical, evidence-based support around healthy eating, physical activity, and stress management. By understanding the pressures of everyday life, they help people build small, realistic changes – like preparing one healthier meal a day or introducing 10-minute movement breaks – grounded in what we know about motivation, habits, and stress. This makes change more manageable and more likely to last.
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Shaping healthier environments in places and communities
Whether it’s how food is displayed in shops, how services are accessed, or how streets are designed, small changes in the environment can have a big impact. Health psychologists help ensure these changes are grounded in what we know about real behaviour, not just theory. So, for instance, removing chocolate from checkouts or placing signs that encourage walking are simple interventions shaped by an understanding of how people often make decisions quickly and unconsciously influenced by what’s easy, visible, and expected, not just what they intend to do.
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Enabling healthy living
From physical activity and healthy eating to reducing alcohol, smoking, or gambling harms, these are not just about information, but motivation, confidence, identity, and habit. Health psychologists understand the psychological drivers behind lifestyle choices and know how to design psychologically informed interventions that work. Health psychologists developed and continue to deliver Scotland’s national behaviour change training programme, MAP (Motivation, Action, Prompts), which supports practitioners across sectors to have effective, person-centred conversations about change, helping embed behaviour change skills across the workforce and enabling healthier choices in everyday practice.
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Ensuring equitable access to health and care
People don’t always attend screenings, take up vaccines or access support, not because they don’t care, but because of fear, stigma, misunderstanding or past experience. Health psychologists help design systems and communication that reduce these barriers and build trust. Health psychologists have supported vaccine and cancer screening programmes by applying insights into how people perceive risk, process health information and make decisions under uncertainty, helping to shape messages and environments that feel safer, clearer, and more supportive, especially for those who may feel hesitant or excluded.
Across all these areas, health psychologists support evaluation and learning, so we can understand what’s working, for whom, and why, and adapt over time.
What’s needed to fully realise the ambitions
Health psychology has the tools to support and enhance efforts to turn Scotland’s public health vision into reality by working in partnership with public health colleagues. We therefore urge the Scottish Government, Public Health Scotland, and NHS Boards to fully recognise and invest in the collaborative contribution health psychologists can make by:
- Involving health psychologists in the planning, implementation, delivery, and evaluation of the Population Health Framework. Embedding psychological expertise from the outset ensures that behaviours are central considerations.
- Establishing a Scottish Behavioural Science Advisory Network. This cross-sector network would bridge public health, health psychology academia and practitioners, and align closely with Behavioural Research UK to strengthen the link between evidence and implementation.
- Embedding and enhancing behaviour change capability across the health and social care workforce, equipping practitioners with evidence-based approaches to support.
- Supporting the continued expansion of national programmes like MAP that put behavioural science into practice.
- Providing dedicated funding for psychology roles within prevention teams, public health, and digital implementation to embed psychological expertise where it can have the greatest long-term impact.
Scotland can lead the way in building a psychologically informed, prevention-first health system. To do that, we need to put human behaviour at the centre of our thinking and health psychology at the heart of service delivery.
Read more
The BPS has responded to Public Health Scotland’s Shaping our strategy: 2025-35 consultation.
Psychology Matters: Explore how our programme of work is shining a light on the vital role psychology has to play in tackling some of the biggest issues facing society.
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