Collaboration And Innovation In Theory And Research In
The European Health Psychology Society

Behavioral Interventions: Bridging the Gap between Theory, Evidence and Intervention Research

SYNERGY 2006 Workshop
27-29 August 2006, Warsaw, Poland

The Workshop at a Glance

The SYNERGY annual workshop is organised to provide an opportunity for discussion between health psychologists conducting research in core fields within health psychology. The focus is on advancing the standard of work within the field by pooling expertise, sharing critical evaluations, and stimulating networking and collaborative research between researchers from all over Europe in an informal and supportive atmosphere.

The aim is to develop improved theoretical and methodological approaches, as well as practical applications concerning the workshop topic. It is an opportunity for researchers to present their research for discussion in depth with other experts working in the same field in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. By focusing on a core topic on which all participants have expertise and have conducted research (published and unpublished), we would expect to reach a shared understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in the area. We hope that this will influence future research and its application in the field.

The workshop aims to develop a framework that will further the development and evaluation of behavioural interventions. Psychological approaches will be integrated in broader frameworks of intervention research and a special focus on theory development will be aimed for. Participants will be encouraged to use different kinds of working methods like individual presentations, discussion, teamwork in smaller groups, etc.

To have a perspective of the workshop four key areas will be addressed:

1. How can interventions be developed in a theory and evidence based way?

2. How to evaluate interventions from a theory-based point of view?

3. How do interventions feed back into theory?

4. How can systematic reviews or meta-analyses be best used to link evidence to theory?

• Prof Alex Rothman, University of Minnesota, USA

• Prof Susan Michie, University College, London, UK

• Prof. Paschal Sheeran, University of Sheffield, UK

Facilitators will guide the work, support and moderate the discussion.

The workshop will begin on Sunday 27th August 2006, and end on Tuesday 29th August 2006.

The workshop fee is 180 Euro.

Workshop Venue

The workshop venue will be at the University of Warsaw. The address is: Krakowskie Przedmiescie str., 26/28, 00- 927 Warszawa (Warsaw).

Here is the map of the University Campus: http://www.uw.edu.pl/strony/uwdzis/map1/zoom1.html.

New information on the precise location will follow in due time.

Accomodation Opportunities

The University of Warsaw is located situated in the center of the city; it will be very easy for you to book your hotel. You can book the same hotel for the workshop and for the conference!

The nearest hotels are:

• Gromada

• Victoria

Application Procedure

Preference is given to health psychologists who are active researchers and who have expertise in the special topic.

The workshop will be held in English.

For application, please use the online application form. You will be notified by e-mail whether you have a place at the workshop.

In order to facilitate the discussion within the workshop, each participant is required to submit:

1. a brief CV (maximal 4 pages).

2. a brief abstract summarizing your research on the topic (not more than 500 words).

3. a paragraph on: a) your expectations regarding the workshop, and b) your possible contributions.

Grants

This year the EHPS is offering 2 grants to those who want to attend the SYNERGY workshop but do not have sufficient financial resources. Each grant will be 500 Euros. Only participants from the countries listed as eligible for reduced fees (click here) can apply for a grant. For more information on grant application etc. please click here.

Registration Procedure (only for accepted workshop participants)

Please note that participation must be confirmed by paying the workshop fee.

Participants need to become a member of the EHPS and therefore will also receive the benefits of EHPS membership (www.ehps.net).

For registration and payment please use the online regestration form (available from May 1st, 2006).

Please note that the registration deadline is May 28, 2006.

In order to prepare for the workshop the other participants’ abstracts, a programme outlining the themes and other materials will be sent to all participants.

For further information please contact:

Falko F. Sniehotta University of Aberdeen School of Psychology William Guild Building Aberdeen, AB24 2UB, UK f.sniehotta@abdn.ac.uk Phone: 0044 (0) 1224 273216

Vera L. B. Araújo Soares University of Minho Instituto de Educação e Psicologia Departamento de Psicologia Campus de Gualtar 4710 Braga, Portugal vsoares@iep.uminho.pt Phone: 00351 253 604228 Fax: 00351 253 678987