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Study Psychology at UOWPsychology at UOW - Peter Kelly
We're really interested in doing research that has just strong applicability to people living in the community, our endeavour is to try and have a strong impact and hopefully improve their way of life or their well-being.
My name is Peter Kelly I'm the coordinator of the Health Psychology Research group.
So our research group is really interested in understanding that the health behaviours of people and really thinking about ways that we can improve their health behaviours, we're endeavouring and we're trying to have a meaningful impact for people in the community, so if people are accessing mental health treatment or accessing drug and alcohol treatment that they're getting the highest level
of care, we’re more often than not working with people from more socially disadvantaged populations, so people you know with quite severe mental health or homelessness or drug and alcohol, so thinking about how we can better understand why people might be using substances and probably more importantly how we can go about helping to improve treatment for people who are accessing those programs.
We're really interested in trailing interventions or using different strategies where it'll have a positive outcome on their life and their overall well-being.
What's been really nice working in the health psychology research group is working with colleagues from areas where we haven't traditionally collaborated, likewise you know kind of learning from people around you using different research approaches or different research skills. It all sounds sort of a little little nerdy but it's nice bringing those groups of people together because that's how you come up with new ideas and interesting approaches to your research.
There's some exciting work happening around mobile phone technology that's that's being conducted by the group likewise there's another program of research that's really focused on sports participation and potential benefits of implementing mental health strategies within an organised sport. A large majority of our research doesn't just happen here on campus it happens sort of out in the world and with a range of partner organisations I think PhD students really appreciate that getting some some real-world experience
What I really enjoy and I as cherish it with my role is, I got the ability to help improve those services and help improve the level of treatment for people that are accessing those programs and really hopeful that's having a positive impact.
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