Pam’s research focuses on the fundamental psychological processes involved in health behavior and health behavior change. She has specific interest in temporal dynamics of health behavior, habits, and sedentary behavior. In her current position, Pam focuses on interdisciplinary research, collaborating with the health campus The Hague.

More information about Pam ten Broeke

Pam’s research focuses on the fundamental psychological processes involved in health behavior and health behavior change. She has specific interest in temporal dynamics of health behavior, habits, and sedentary behavior. In her current position, Pam focuses on interdisciplinary research, collaborating with the health campus The Hague.

Research on health behavior

Pam's research mainly focuses on the following themes: 

Temporal dynamics of health behavior

Within the theme of health behavior, Pam is mainly interested in how individuals’ healthy and unhealthy behavior fluctuates over time. For instance, she studied whether and how a single instance of self-regulation failure (e.g., eating something that is not in line with one’s diet, or skipping a gym session) may result in a downward spiral of negative cognitions, emotions, and more unhealthy or undesired behavior. In her current position, Pam is planning to further explore the complex interplay of multiple health-related and non-health-related goals that people typically pursue during their everyday life. She aims to study whether the content and characteristics of daily life goals differ between individuals based on, for example, socioeconomic status. She also wants to study whether and how health-related goals conflict or facilitate people’s long-term goals in other life domains.

Habits

Effective health behavior change often involves breaking unhealthy habits and/or forming new, healthy habits. As such, in her research, Pam is also interested in how habits form over time, and how habits interact with goals in shaping health behavior.  

Sedentary behavior and physical activity

During her PhD research, Pam applied her interest in the dynamics of health behavior in a specific domain: Sedentary behavior and physical (in)activity. She investigated when, where, and why people engage in prolonged sitting versus frequent standing breaks. Using innovative analysis methods, she gained insights into the dynamic sit-stand patterns of office workers during work and of cardiovascular disease patients before and after cardiac rehabilitation. Pam also applied psychological theories on goal structures and habits to better understand the underlying factors that may drive excessive sitting behavior. 

Education

Pam is involved in education within the Institute of Psychology, the interdisciplinary bachelor’s program Urban Studies and the interdisciplinary master’s program Population Health Management. She teaches on health promotion and health behavior change in general, and on sedentary behavior and physical (in)activity. In addition, she supervises bachelor and master projects.

Short CV

Pam ten Broeke studied Psychology at Utrecht University (2013 – 2016), followed by a research master Social and Health Psychology (Utrecht University, 2016 – 2018). After graduating the research master, Pam conducted PhD research at the Work, Health, and Performance research program in the Behavioural Science Institute of the Radboud University. Her dissertation was titled ‘Towards healthier sitting. A psychological perspective on sitting behavior’. Since February 1, 2023, Pam works as an assistant professor in health psychology, at the Health, Medical and Neuropsychology department at Leiden University.