One of our increasing interests is how social psychology can be used to understand and improve safe behaviour in health and social care settings. This area started as a conversation with researchers interested in promoting bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and quickly evolved into collaborations with the Scottish Ambulance Service, the Chief Nursing Officer Directorate of Scottish government, and hospital staff in Scotland.
The research falls into two main strands: 1) using social norms to promote bystander CPR during out of hospital cardiac arrests in Scotland; and 2) developing communication approaches used by leaders in healthcare settings to promote staff uptake of new guidance. This is a new strand of work and requires multiple phases to identify, implement and assess interventions. However, we are currently analysing a series of interviews, behavioural footage, experiments, and surveys so watch this space!
Our research on bystander CPR is funded by the Resuscitation Council UK for our project ‘A psychologically calibrated brief intervention to enable bystander CPR’. Our research on enhancing communication strategies in hospital settings is funded by the Chief Nursing Office Directorate for the project ‘Reducing COVID-19 transmission by identifying barriers and avenues to safe behaviours in hospitals’.
Our latest outputs:
Smith, K., & Templeton, A. (2024). Identity leadership and adherence to COVID-19 safety guidance in hospital settings. PLoS One, e0293002. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293002
Hlubek, N., Templeton, A., & Wiseman-Gregg, K. (2022). A social identity approach to COVID-19 transmission in hospital settings. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12948
