Skip to main content
"By creating we think, by living we learn" Patrick Geddes
Main University menu
 

Templates Top-Level Menu

Social Dimensions of Health Institute

Lead, Dr Brian Williams

SDHI is a joint venture between the Universities of Dundee and St Andrews that brings together academics from clinical and the social sciences, and local service leaders and professionals, to explore the social dimensions of health, ill-health, health-care-seeking and service delivery.

SDHI’s vision is to become an internationally recognised centre of excellence for research into the social, population and organisational aspects of health and health care delivery, with its work contributing to the health of the people of Scotland and beyond. Such work seeks to understand the nature and mechanisms of health-related phenomena, is concerned to investigate policy and practice options for health enhancement and ill-health amelioration, and addresses underlying mechanisms of change. Much of this work aims to link what we know about individuals (in biopsychosocial terms) to higher levels of aggregation (i.e. groups, communities and populations).

Current SDHI research focuses on the social dynamics of health care delivery, patient/user engagement, self-care, and the development and evaluation of interventions to address health inequalities. Against this context SDHI staff are also developing innovative methodologies including collection of live data through handheld diaries, routine consultation recording and data linkage, and embedding psychological theories in image and sound to promote behaviour change.

SDHI is led by a number of senior academics from both universities including the director Dr Brian Williams (Dundee), and four associate directors: Professor Huw Davies (St Andrews), Dr Martyn Jones (Dundee), Professor Vikki Entwistle (Dundee), Professor Paul Boyle (St Andrews).