Behaviour Change: An Interdisciplinary Approach (PSYC0002)

Global societal challenges such as climate change and the burden of chronic disease require different disciplines and professionals to work together towards a common purpose of getting people to behave differently. Differences in perspective, understanding and methodologies can be a major barrier to working effectively across disciplinary boundaries. This module will explore the opportunities afforded by the use of different perspectives to behaviour change, the tensions that can arise, and the potential of behaviour change frameworks for bringing coherence and unity to such work. The core aims of the module are to introduce students to key theories and research findings that further our understanding of behaviour and how to change it. Illustrative examples of behaviour change from multiple disciplines will be provided and the advantages of different disciplinary perspectives to behaviour change will be presented. After experiencing this module, students should be able to articulate the opportunities and challenges of an interdisciplinary approach to behaviour change and describe key concepts relevant to behaviour change for the disciplines covered. Students will also be encouraged to critically appraise the utility of different disciplinary approaches to behaviour change and synthesise key concepts from across different disciplines. Undergraduates and postgraduates will be taught together through a series of lectures representing expertise from different UCL faculties spanning multiple disciplines. Postgraduate students taking the module will also attend interactive seminars and workshops to further support their learning and critically explore the key concepts in greater depth.

Behaviour Change: An Interdisciplinary Approach (BECH0001)

This professional programme combines working in a clinical setting, with lectures and seminars to support academic development and the opportunity to complete a doctoral level research project. Teaching is offered in a small-group setting and aims to provide a thorough understanding of normal child development, childhood psychopathology and psychotherapeutic techniques linked with direct experience of clinical work and conducting relevant research. Assessment description: Service-related research is applied research that is relevant to service provision and undertaken within a clinical setting. It will usually take the form of an audit of some aspect of the clinical service where the trainee is based. The aim of the service-related research project is to help trainees develop their research skills, including the ability to communicate research findings to clinical colleagues, and to give trainees experience in integrating research with clinical practice. Conducting practically oriented research is an important part of the child psychotherapist’s professional role. The service-related research report allows trainees to demonstrate that they are able to plan, execute and write up a small-scale, applied research project within the constraints of a clinical setting. For further information about the module description contact the programme team.