Want to teach a course on health psychology, but don’t know where to get started? The below resources from the SfHP Education & Training Council will get you on your way to developing an excellent health psychology course!
Course Descriptions
In general, health psychology courses examine how biological, psychological, and social factors interact with and affect:
- The efforts people make in promoting good health and preventing illness;
- The treatment people receive for medical problems;
- How effectively people cope with and reduce stress and pain, and;
- The recovery, rehabilitation, and psychosocial adjustment of patients with serious health problems.
Courses also focus on the role of stress in illness; certain lifestyle factors, such as smoking or weight control; and specific chronic illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease.
Potential Content Areas
These are some broad areas and issues that could be incorporated into a health psychology course. Topic areas may overlap and are not limited to the following:
- Factors underlying health habits and lifestyles
- Methods to enhance health behavior and prevent illness
- Stress and stress management
- Acute and chronic health conditions
- Coping and social support
- Pain
- Sleep
- Compliance/adherence and medical regimens
- End of life/Palliative care
- Health disparities and social determinants of health
- Nutrition, obesity, and weight management
- Interventions
- Substance use and misuse
- Exercise
- Medical settings and the relationships between patients and practitioners
- Health promoting and Health harming behaviors
- History and future
- Training opportunities
- Theoretical perspectives
Course Objectives
These are potential course objectives that can be covered in a health psychology course. Additional course objectives may vary and some examples can be seen in the health psychology-relevant syllabi in the link under Additional Resources and Example Syllabi.
- Develop an understanding and appreciation of the complex interplay between one’s physical well-being and a variety of biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors.
- Learn how psychological research methods, theories, and principles can be applied to enhance biomedical approaches for promoting health and treating illness.
- Learn the nature of the stress response and its impact in the etiology and course of many health problems.
- Discover how behavioral and cognitive methods can help individuals cope with stress.
- Develop skills for designing programs to improve one’s own and others’ personal health habits and lifestyles.
- Acquire an understanding of the difficulty patients experience in deciding whether or when to seek treatment for disturbing symptoms.
- Become aware of the experiences of patients in the hospital setting, factors that affect adherence to medical regimens, and sources of problems in patient/practitioner relationships.
- Determine how psychological and medical methods for relieving pain differ and are often combined to enhance treatment effectiveness.
- Become aware of the impact that disabling or life-threatening illnesses have on patients and their families.
- Discover how psychological methods and principles can be applied to help patients manage and cope with chronic illness.