Colleges Health and Medical Psychology 2019-2020
College 1: Health Psychology – being and staying healthy
Health psychology:
- Body & mind interaction
- Self-management & coping
- Prevention & health promotion
- Stress & disease
- Positive psychology & empowerment
Focuses on individual strengths
Mind – body interaction
Emphasis on prevention and adaptation during all phases from health to illness
Prevention
• Primary prevention: prevention of the problem, illness or casualty. Target group =
healthy people
• Secondary prevention: tracing illness in an early phase, for early treatment, or for
prevention of more serious complaints. Target group = (healthy) people with an
increased risk
• Tertiary prevention: prevention of complications and worsening of symptoms
through optimal care (including self-regulation interventions). Target group = ill
people
Health as not ill: no symptoms, no visits to doctor
Health as reserve/resource: strong family, recover quickly
Health as behavior: look after myself
Health as physical fitness and vitality: energetic
Health as psychological well-being: in harmony, balance, proud, enjoyment
Health as function: to do what I want/have to do
WHO definition of Health (1948): Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Why do we become ill?
- Biomedical model → exposure to contagious ‘agents’, insufficient immune response
- Health behavior (sleep, nutrition, etc.)
- Stress/emotions
- Social relations (support, conflict)
- Biopsychosocial model → biology, psychology and social context
o Body and mind in interaction determine health and illness
o Consequences of interplay of biological (genes, pathogens),
psychological (emotions, cognition and behavior) and social
(norms, social cultural background) factors.
o The different systems influence each other continuously
, Why influencing health behavior?
1. Health behavior is related to mortality and morbidity (and quality of life)
2. Socio-demographical differences in health behavior increase social economic
differences
3. Prevalence of risk behaviors is high
4. Health behavior is not always an informed choice
Adverse effect may occur
- Increase of SES differences
- Hardening
- Stigmatising
What determines behaviour?
• Structural
• Institutional/health system
• Community
• Interpersonal/network
• Individual
Health belief Model – Rosenstock et al. (1966)
Perceived vulnerability (Help, I can get this condition..)
Perceived severity (and if so, that would be terrible)
Fear is key feature!
Fear determines together with response efficacy the likelihood of occurrence of behavior.
College 1: Health Psychology – being and staying healthy
Health psychology:
- Body & mind interaction
- Self-management & coping
- Prevention & health promotion
- Stress & disease
- Positive psychology & empowerment
Focuses on individual strengths
Mind – body interaction
Emphasis on prevention and adaptation during all phases from health to illness
Prevention
• Primary prevention: prevention of the problem, illness or casualty. Target group =
healthy people
• Secondary prevention: tracing illness in an early phase, for early treatment, or for
prevention of more serious complaints. Target group = (healthy) people with an
increased risk
• Tertiary prevention: prevention of complications and worsening of symptoms
through optimal care (including self-regulation interventions). Target group = ill
people
Health as not ill: no symptoms, no visits to doctor
Health as reserve/resource: strong family, recover quickly
Health as behavior: look after myself
Health as physical fitness and vitality: energetic
Health as psychological well-being: in harmony, balance, proud, enjoyment
Health as function: to do what I want/have to do
WHO definition of Health (1948): Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Why do we become ill?
- Biomedical model → exposure to contagious ‘agents’, insufficient immune response
- Health behavior (sleep, nutrition, etc.)
- Stress/emotions
- Social relations (support, conflict)
- Biopsychosocial model → biology, psychology and social context
o Body and mind in interaction determine health and illness
o Consequences of interplay of biological (genes, pathogens),
psychological (emotions, cognition and behavior) and social
(norms, social cultural background) factors.
o The different systems influence each other continuously
, Why influencing health behavior?
1. Health behavior is related to mortality and morbidity (and quality of life)
2. Socio-demographical differences in health behavior increase social economic
differences
3. Prevalence of risk behaviors is high
4. Health behavior is not always an informed choice
Adverse effect may occur
- Increase of SES differences
- Hardening
- Stigmatising
What determines behaviour?
• Structural
• Institutional/health system
• Community
• Interpersonal/network
• Individual
Health belief Model – Rosenstock et al. (1966)
Perceived vulnerability (Help, I can get this condition..)
Perceived severity (and if so, that would be terrible)
Fear is key feature!
Fear determines together with response efficacy the likelihood of occurrence of behavior.
