Health psychology;Definition, areas,Aims, Need & Significance|Aboutpsy.com

Definition of health psychology
Definition of Health
Areas of health psychology
Aims of health psychology
Need and significance of health psychology

Health psychology is devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when they do get ill.
Health psychologists both study such issues and develop interventions to help people stay well or recover from illness.
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1. Nisar VP Assistant Prof Dept of Psychology MES Kvm college Valanchery Introduction To Health Psychology 1 aboutpsy.com

2. Overview Definition of health psychology Definition of Health Areas of health psychology Aims of health psychology Need and significance of health psychology 2 aboutpsy.com

3. DEFINITION OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY Field of applied psychology concerned with psychological aspect of physical health Health psychology is devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when they do get ill. Health psychologists both study such issues and develop interventions to help people stay well or recover from illness 3 aboutpsy.com

4. Health psychology is a specialty area that focuses on how biology, psychology, behavior, and social factors influence health and illness. Medical psychology and behavioral medicine Behavioral medicine  is the interdisciplinary field concerned with the development and integration of  behavioral , psychosocial, and biomedical science knowledge and techniques relevant to the understanding of  health  and illness 4 aboutpsy.com

5. APA and Health psychology Division 38 of the  American Psychological Association  is devoted to health psychology. According to the division, their focus is on a better understanding of health and illness, studying the psychological factors that impact health, and contributing to the health care system and health policy 5 aboutpsy.com

6. Health World Health Organization (1948) - health as “a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Rather than defining health as the absence of illness, health is recognized to be an achievement involving balance among physical, mental, and social well-being wellness to refer to this optimum state of health 6 aboutpsy.com

7. Areas of health psychology Health promotion and maintenance,- includes issues such as how to get children to develop good health habits, how to promote regular exercise, and how to design a media campaign to get people to improve their diets 7 aboutpsy.com

8. Areas of health psychology Prevention and treatment of illness- A health psychologist might teach people in a high-stress occupation how to manage stress eff ectively so that it will not adversely aff ect their health. A health psychologist might work with people who are already ill to help them follow their treatment regimen. 8 aboutpsy.com

9. Areas of health psychology Etiology and correlates of health, illness, and dysfunction Etiology refers to the origins or causes of illness Health psychologists especially address the behavioral and social factors that contribute to health, illness, and dysfunction 9 aboutpsy.com

10. Areas of health psychology Analyze and attempt to improve the health care system and the formulation of health policy They study the impact of health institutions and health professionals on people’s behavior to develop recommendations for improving health care 10 aboutpsy.com

11. Matarazzo defined HP as “ the aggregate of the specific educational, scientific, and professional contributions of the discipline of psychology to the promotion and maintenance of health, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the identification of etiologic and diagnostic correlates of health, illness and related dysfunction and to the analysis and improvement of the health care system and health policy formation” APA accepted (1984) 11 aboutpsy.com

12. Aims of health psychology 1)Health psychology aims to understand, explain, develop and test theory by: a)Evaluating the role of behaviour in the aetiology of illness b) Predicting unhealthy behaviours c) Evaluating the interaction between psychology and physiology d) Understanding the role of psychology in the experience of illness e )Evaluating the role of psychology in the treatment of illness 12 aboutpsy.com

13. Aims of health psychology 2 Health psychology also aims to put theory into practice. This can be implemented by- a )Promoting healthy behaviour b) Preventing illness 13 aboutpsy.com

14. Need and significance of health psychology Trends within medicine, psychology, and the health care system have combinedto make the emergence of health psychology inevitable. Changing Patterns of Illness Advances in Technology and Research Role of Epidemiology in Health Psychology Expanded Health Care Services Increased Medical Acceptance Demonstrated Contributions to Health Methodological Contributions to Health 14 aboutpsy.com

15. Changing Patterns of Illness Major cause of death is due to chronic illness Acute Illness- disease with an abrupt onset and usually a short course often the result of a viral or bacterial invader Chronic illness - illnesses that are prolonged, do not resolve spontaneously, and are rarely cured completely Chronic illnesses affect family functioning, includingrelationships with a partner or children 15 aboutpsy.com

16. Acute Illness Chronic Illnesses Illness of short duration, Illness of long duration, Rapidly progressive Developing slowly Need of urgent care, amenable to cure Need for wide array of services, managment Eg; tuberculosis, pneumonia Eg; heart disease, cancer, and diabetes 16 aboutpsy.com

17. Advances in Technology and Research New technologies now make it possible to identify the genes that contribute to many disorders Helps to identifies the risk factors for disease, such as a high-fat diet, and help peoplelearn to change their diet and stick to their program Diagnosis and treatment 17 aboutpsy.com

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19. Role of Epidemiology in Health Psychology Epidemiology is the study of the frequency, distribution, and causes of infectious andnoninfectious disease in a population, based on an investigation of the physical and socialenvironment. 19 aboutpsy.com

20. Role of Epidemiology in Health Psychology Morbidity - referes to number of cases of a disease that exist at some given point in time. state of being unhealthy for a particular disease or situation Mortality - number of death due to particular causes/ illness Crude mortality rate, Cause-specific mortality rate, Age-specific mortality rate, Infant mortality rate, Maternal mortality rate, Sex-specific mortality rate 20 aboutpsy.com

21. Expanded Health Care Services Health care is the largest service industry in the world Some individuals enjoy the very best health careavailable in the world while others receive little health care except in emergencies. Health care costs is so important 21 aboutpsy.com

22. Health psychology’s main emphasis on prevention—namely, modifying people’s risky health behaviors before they become ill Health care industry employs many millions of individuals in a variety of jobs Multidisciplinary 22 aboutpsy.com

23. Indian context 23 aboutpsy.com

24. Increased Medical Acceptance Increasing acceptance ofhealth psychologists within the medical community Health psychologists in health care was largely confined to the task of administering tests and interpreting the test results of individualswho were suspected of being psychologically disturbed Caregivers are increasingly recognizing that psychological and social factors are important in health and illness 24 aboutpsy.com

25. Demonstrated Contributions to Health Health variety of short-term behavioral interventions to address a variety of health-relatedproblems, including managing pain, modifying bad health habits such as smoking Behavioral medicine 25 aboutpsy.com

26. Methodological Contributions to Health Research on health,cause and managment of illness,how respond to illness and treatment Methodological and statistical expertise in health care Experimentation Correlational studies Prospective and retrospective studies 26 aboutpsy.com

27. Reference Shelley Taylor - Health Psychology (9 th ed) Edward P. Sarafino & Timothy W. Smith (7 th ed)- Health Psychology: Biopsychosocial Interactions 27 aboutpsy.com