Health psychology

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Health Psychology is a branch of psychology and deals thematically with the preservation of health , the research and development of health-promoting measures and prevention such. B. in the addiction area .

In general, it is about research into personal, social and structural factors influencing physical and mental health. Theories and methods of social psychology are mainly used. Health psychology also includes the application of this knowledge, especially by psychologists .

Health psychology sees itself as a mediation discipline between educational psychology , clinical psychology and behavioral medicine .

Emergence of health psychology

According to Ralf Schwarzer , the emergence of health psychology as an independent discipline of psychology is primarily due to the following factors:

  • The concept of health has changed: health is no longer understood as the absence of illness , but as a positive state, according to the WHO definition.
  • In the past, infectious diseases prevailed, today chronic degenerative diseases such. Sometimes related to unhealthy habits and living conditions.
  • Replacement of the biomedical disease model by a bio-psycho-social model.

The German Society for Psychology has had its own specialist group on health psychology since 1992 . The professional association of German psychologists has a department of health psychology .

Health Psychology Topics

The following topics (here a selection) are partly also dealt with in other subjects (e.g. medicine, sociology); however, health psychology explores the psychological aspects of these topics and approaches them with methods, models and theories of psychology.

education

Health psychology sees itself as an application subject within the framework of psychology studies. However, the subject is rarely firmly anchored in the curriculum in very few universities or colleges. Usually only individual seminars or lectures are offered as part of the bachelor's or master's degree. Since 2010, the SRH University of Heidelberg has been offering a corresponding degree program at the Faculty of Applied Psychology. There is also the option of obtaining a bachelor's and master's degree in health psychology via distance learning at the SRH Fernhochschule .

In Austria, health psychologists have their own professional profile and the curriculum is defined by law as postgraduate specialist training (Psychologists Act). Both universities and private training institutions serve as training centers.

See also

literature

  • T. Faltermaier: Health Psychology . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-017187-9 .
  • B. Renneberg, P. Hammelstein (Ed.): Health Psychology . Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-540-25462-1 .
  • R. Schwarzer (Ed.): Health Psychology: A Textbook . 2nd edition Hogrefe, Göttingen [u. a.] 1997, ISBN 3-8017-0989-2 .
  • R. Schwarzer: Psychology of Health Behavior: An Introduction to Health Psychology . 3rd edition Hogrefe, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-8017-1816-6 .
  • R. Schwarzer (Ed.): Health Psychology . Hogrefe, Göttingen [a. a.] 200, ISBN 3-8017-1500-0 .
  • MA Wirtz: Dorsch - Lexicon of Psychology . Verlag Hans Huber, Bern 2013, ISBN 978-3-456-85234-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ hochschule-heidelberg.de
  2. ↑ https://www.mobile-university.de/bachelor/praevention-und-gesundheitspsychologie/
  3. ↑ Health psychologist | Federal Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection (Austria)
  4. ↑ Entire legal regulation for the Psychologists Act 2013 | Federal legal information system (Austria)
  5. ↑ Legally recognized training institutions for theory and practice (Austria)