June 27, 2026

Psychological Determinants of Health Behaviors with Dr. Stephanie Hooker

Show Notes

Stan, Clarence, Barry, & the Health Chatter team chat with Dr. Stephanie Hooker on the psychological determinants of health behaviors.

Dr. Stephanie Hooker is a Senior Research Investigator in behavioral and clinical health research at HealthPartners Institute and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Her work focuses on psychosocial factors that influence health behaviors and chronic disease outcomes, with particular emphasis on meaning and purpose in life, patient engagement, and intervention development. She collaborates across health systems to design, evaluate, and translate evidence-based behavioral interventions into real-world care.

Learn more about Dr. Hooker's work here.

Join the conversation at healthchatterpodcast.com

Brought to you in support of Hue-MAN, who is Creating Healthy Communities through Innovative Partnerships.

More about their work can be found at https://www.huemanpartnershipalliance.org/

Research

What are determinants of health?

The determinants of health include: the social and economic environment, the physical environment, and the person’s individual characteristics and behaviours

Income and social status - higher income and social status are linked to better health. The greater the gap between the richest and poorest people, the greater the differences in health.
Education – low education levels are linked with poor health, more stress and lower self-confidence.
Physical environment – safe water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health. Employment and working conditions – people in employment are healthier, particularly those who have more control over their working conditions
Social support networks – greater support from families, friends and communities is linked to better health. Culture - customs and traditions, and the beliefs of the family and community all affect health.
Genetics - inheritance plays a part in determining lifespan, healthiness and the likelihood of developing certain illnesses. Personal behaviour and coping skills – balanced eating, keeping active, smoking, drinking, and how we deal with life’s stresses and challenges all affect health.
Health services - access and use of services that prevent and treat disease influences health
Gender - Men and women suffer from different types of diseases at different ages.

Psychological Determinants of Health Behaviors

Behavior change techniques methods or strategies adopted in interventions designed to change behavior through activation of, or change in, one or more theory-based psychological determinants
Dual-phase theories theories specifying separate phases of action: a motivational phase involving intention formation and an action or volitional phase involving intention enactment
Dual-process theories theories specifying separate but interacting action processes: a reasoned, deliberative process governing intentional action and an implicit, nonconscious process involved in impulsive action
Effect relationship between a psychological determinant and an outcome (e.g., health behavior), often expressed as directional and causal or deterministic
Health protection behaviors actions that offer protection from illness or adverse health conditions or promote good health (e.g., physical activity participation, healthy eating)
Health risk behaviors actions that present an increased risk to health (e.g., smoking, excess alcohol consumption)
Implicit cognition a psychological construct representing nonconscious, automatic processes implicated in behavioral performance and surmised to affect behavior beyond individuals’ awareness
Mechanism of action process by which behavior change techniques affect change in health behaviors through activation of, or change in, psychological determinants
Nomological network specified pattern of theory-stipulated associations or effects among psychological determinants and outcomes
Psychological determinant psychological entity or construct representing a mental process implicated in, or deterministic of, a psychological or behavioral outcome
Psychological mechanism mental process implied or represented by effects among determinants and outcomes (e.g., health behavior)
Psychological theory a set of propositional statements based on prior evidence summarizing current knowledge on associations between variables (e.g., psychological determinants) and outcomes (e.g., health behavior)
Social cognition theories theories that assume behavior is the consequence of reasoned processing of social information regarding future behavioral performance

Diagram illustrating theory-stipulated relations among core groups of psychological and social structural determinants and health behavior based on a review of classification research.