Rachel Povey

I am a Chartered Psychologist and a Health Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. I was appointed as a Research Fellow at Staffordshire University in 1999 after working as a Research Assistant within a multi-disciplinary team at the Manchester Diabetes Centre on a project investigating the psychological implications of diabetes. In 2000 I was appointed Lecturer in Health Psychology, and in 2002 became Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology. I was appointed Associate Professor in Health Psychology in 2016, and I am Co-Director of the Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology.

My main research interests centre around the influences on, and determinants of motivation to follow a healthy diet. My PhD thesis and subsequent publications have been involved with people's perceptions of the concept of 'healthy eating', and the development of attitude-based interventions to promote health-related dietary change in children. Other work has involved exploring the experiences of living with long term conditions, and the development of health-related training programmes to change behaviour. These training programmes have included a resource pack-based training programme for practice nurses to promote uptake and maintenance of dietary self-care behaviours in people with type 2 diabetes and a training programme to improve risk communication in NHS health checks.