Health Psychology An Overview Chapter 1 Dr Alan

Health Psychology: An Overview Chapter 1 Dr. Alan H. Teich

Illness / Wellness n What is health? n Objective and subjective signs

Illness / Wellness Continuum Major disability Symptoms/minor From illness disability lifestyle Death Wellness Average Signs Healthful Signs & lifestyle Very healthful signs & Optimal

The Disease Pattern § XVll and Xl. X Centuries § Infectious Diseases § XX and XXl Centuries § Chronic Diseases, Injury

HEALTH BELIEFS § Ancient Cultures § Magic, Supernatural, Mind-Body separation § Middle Ages § Church supremacy, Illness and sin, Body-Mind interaction § Renaissance § Human Centered, Mechanistic view, dissection, surgery, microscope… § XX Century § The Biomedical model

Psychology and Health Individual variation n Lifestyle Risk factors Personality n n n Health Care models n Psychosomatic medicine Psychoanalysis Psychiatrists n n n Biopsychosocial perspective n Behavioral medicine Health psychology n n n Behaviors Cognition Lifestyles

Psychology and Health n Health Psychology: Goals n n Prevent illness Identify causes of illness Treat Illness Health care systems and public policy

Related Fields n Epidemiology n distribution and frequency of disease n n n mortality: number of deaths morbidity: illness, injury prevalence: total number of cases incidence: number of new cases epidemic: rapid increase in incidence

Related Fields n Public Health n n Medical Sociology n n field focuses on organized effort related to health issues in a community field concerned with social factors related to health and illness Medical Anthropology n field concerned with the cross-cultural aspects of health and illness

Research Methods n Theory n n A tentative explanation of why and under what conditions a certain phenomenon occurs A useful theory: n n is clearly stated organizes facts relates information allows for predictions

Research Methods n Experiments n A controlled study in which one variable is manipulated as another variable is measured. n n n Independent variable Dependent variable Experimental and Control Groups n n Double-blind study Nonexperimental Methods n Independent Variable is not manipulated

Quasi-experimental Designs n Correlational Studies n n n Retrospective approach: look back Prospective approach: follow group Developmental Approaches n Cross-sectional n n Longitudinal n n different ages observed at the same time observe same individuals over a long time Single-subject Designs n Case study