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Our Research:

Health Behaviour

Theme Leader: Professor Paul McNamee

The Health Behaviour theme At the end of the year Patrícia Norwood and Paul
aims to enhance understanding McNamee began a new Scottish Government funded
of health behaviour (principally project, in collaboration with Scotland’s Rural College,
alcohol consumption, physical assessing the importance of prices and promotion on
activity and dietary choice) from discretionary foods (i.e. snacks such as crisps, biscuits
an economics perspective, and and chocolate confectionary, as well as ice cream,
to strengthen the evidence-base puddings and sugar-sweetened beverages). The
Paul McNamee
relating to interventions that aim project uses existing data from the Kantar World Panel
Theme Leader
to influence behaviour, both in and is also collecting new primary data on consumer
terms of their design and in terms of evaluation of their preferences, using discrete choice experiments, to
effect on costs and outcomes. We also consider wider inform future Scottish Government policy on the
determinants of health besides health behaviour, such impact of restricting the promotion and marketing of
as education and working conditions. discretionary foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
Research undertaken by Marjon van der Pol into time
preferences continued. Data collection started on a
think aloud study of time preference elicitation. Led
by Professor Liam Delaney, a behavioural economist
at University College Dublin, this study is examining
individuals’ decision making processes when
completing time preference experiments. The ultimate
goal is to develop a more refined time preference
measure in order to better inform our understanding
of intertemporal behaviours such as health (care)
behaviours. Liam Delaney was also a visiting scholar
to HERU in the summer. Charlotte Kennedy, an
MSc student from York (who has since joined HERU),
The first all investigators and patient partners meeting for conducted her thesis in HERU on the role of time
PACFIND, February 2019, attended by Paul McNamee preference in spousal correlation in smoking. She was
supervised by Marjon van der Pol, Dr Heather Brown
One new large project which started this year was (University of Newcastle) and Dr Gertraud Stadler
‘Patient-centred Care for Fibromyalgia: New pathway (Health Psychology, University of Aberdeen). The
Design (PACFIND)’. This is study funded by Versus research found evidence of spousal correlation in both
Arthritis and aims to improve healthcare services time preference and smoking. It was also found that the
for patients with fibromyalgia. More specifically, female partner’s time preference influenced the effect
the objective is to improve services to enable more of female smoking on male smoking. This suggests
timely diagnosis and improved access to effective that couple-based interventions that also incorporate
treatments, ultimately leading to better outcomes the consideration of time preference between partners
for patients and family members. These treatments may be more effective. Marjon van der Pol also gave
include supporting people to make changes in health the closing plenary at the German Health Economics
behaviour, such as increasing levels of physical activity. Association Annual Conference in Augsburg in March
This five year programme of work is being conducted on time preference work with a focus on health
in close collaboration with patient representatives as behaviours.
well as people with fibromyalgia and will establish
Continuing progress was made in our collaborative
their preferences for how care is best organised and
research programme with the Rowett Institute at the
delivered.
University of Aberdeen. Panel data analysis, using the

12 HERU ANNUAL REPORT 2019