Health Psychology Definition and areas of application

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Health is defined as the physical, mental and social welfare state. Starting from this conception, health is an area that covers several disciplines that adopt as an object of study any of those previously raised approaches. Taking this into account, the mental sphere is about deciphering through professionals in areas such as: neurology, neuropsychology, psychiatry and psychology; The latter is which we will talk on this occasion.

Health psychology sometimes tends to be little known even by the psychologists themselves, but once it is exercised In the healthcare field it is very useful and benefit when it comes to covering interdisciplinary or exclusively mental problems in patients found in a health entity. Next we will talk a little more about its definition and areas of application to be able to exercise that branch of psychology with the responsibility it implies.

Content

• Definition of Health Psychology
• Fields of application
  • In conclusion…
  • Bibliography

Definition of Health Psychology

It is that branch of psychology in charge of the area of ​​health, that is, the whole set of Emotional, cognitive and behavioral factors that are related to the beginning, maintenance or recovery in cases of disease; Starting from a main objective the conservation of health in the individual.

In addition to this, another of the functions of a health psychologist is the design of an action plan that seeks the health promotion, prevent disease, intervene during rehabilitation of people in a state of illness, as well as optimizing health systems and services and participating in the formulation of public policies in issues associated with mental health.

Finally, it should be noted that health psychology covers the study of factors such as: Health Education, Healthy Behaviors vs. Risk, psychological factors associated with disease, stress (coping), among others. All this with the sole purpose of promote the quality of life both individual and community level.

Fields of application

At the general level we can classify the areas of application of health psychology in 4 groups: promotion, prevention, evaluation - treatment - rehabilitation and analysis (or improvement) of the system.

When a psychology professional exercises in promotion activities this refers to informing and educating in relevant health themes to patients, such as: sexual and reproductive health, vaccines, among others. In addition to this seeks to enhance and/or strengthen protective factors (that is to say all that aspect that allows to prevent a person from getting sick), together with the Generation of healthy lifestyles, Participation in Environmental Health and Citizen Policies.

According to the prevention As the name implies the idea is to identify those factors that can produce some health problem, but that can be avoided; Some of these can be: sedentary lifestyle, cigarette consumption, emotional problems, etc. All this is done through: Control of attitudinal, motivational and emotional variables; Modify risk behaviors and/or unhealthy conditions of the environment, early detection of problems and relapse prevention.

The third scope of this branch is the Evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation of specific disorders such as cardiovascular, endocrine, food, cancer, neuromuscular, renal diseases, among others. Covering at level General any health condition of a chronic and/or terminal nature, that is to say all that disease that requires permanent management during the rest of his life or that pathological condition that at some point can produce the death of the person.

Finally, the fourth scope of health psychology is the analysis and improvement of the health care system, in which the professional watches over the care that is done at the level of the health sector, study what can be improved, educates users in the proper use of the entity's health system and form the healthcare, administrative and other professionals In certain specific skills that allow the user to feel satisfied with the service, for example the humanization in health services.

In conclusion…

Health psychology is a branch of psychology that has a huge impact on the provision of the service of a health entity, from the patient's diagnosis to their treatment and subsequent recovery and/or follow -up. Thus the hospitals or clinics that have this figure, offer much more comprehensive care in the health maintenance process and disease prevention.

Bibliography

• (1) Concept.of (2019). Health according to WHO. Extracted from: https: // concept.of/Health-Segun-La -om/
• (2) Colombian College of Psychologists Colpsic (2019). HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY FIELD. Extracted from: https: // www.Colpsic.org.CO/PRODUCTS-Y-SERVICES/FIELD-PSICOLOGIA-DE-LA-SALUD/86