Working with stakeholders to translate health psychology research into practice: Reflections from evaluations of two national behaviour change programmes

This article reports the reflections of a Research Associate (Rhiannon Hawkes) and PhD student/Trainee Health Psychologist (Tamla Evans) working on the multidisciplinary evaluations of two distinct but similar nationally implemented behaviour change programmes: the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS-DPP) and the NHS England Low Calorie Diet Programme (NHS-LCD). The two of us met in early 2021 as part of multiple shared learnings meetings between our two independent research teams at the University of Manchester (DIPLOMA evaluation) and Leeds Beckett University (Re:Mission evaluation). Due to our aligned research interests we continued to meet independently to share insights and learnings from the research process with one another, leading to the co-authorship of two journal publications. This article shares insights into successfully working with programme stakeholders to facilitate these independent evaluations and ensuring research findings are translated into policy and practice. We hope our experiences demonstrate how collaborating with researchers on similar projects facilitates impactful research, as achieved by the DIPLOMA and Re:Mission project teams. We also reflect on the value of health psychology expertise in
these programmes, and the opportunities for heath psychologists to be involved in the implementation of large-scale behaviour change programmes.