What is Health Psychology?
Health psychology is a relatively new field of applied psychology. Psychological principles are used to promote changes in people's attitudes, behaviour and thinking about health and illness. The breadth of the discipline is far-reaching, including:
- promotion and protection of health by encouraging behaviours such as exercise, healthy dietary choices, teeth brushing, health checks/self examination
- prevention of damaging health behaviours; the use of psychological theories and interventions to prevent damaging behaviours (such as smoking, drug abuse, poor diet), and the change health-related behaviour in community and workplace settings.
- processes influencing healthcare delivery; the nature and effects of communication between health care practitioners and patients, including interventions to improve communication, facilitate adherence, prepare for stressful medical procedures and so on.
- understanding the influence of health beliefs; investigating the processes which can explain, predict and change health and illness behaviours.
- psychological aspects of illness; investigating the psychological impact of acute and chronic illness on individuals, families, and carers. Psychological interventions may be used to help promote self-management, facilitate coping with pain or illness, to improve quality of life, and to reduce disability and handicap