Health Psychology

The Health Psychology section of the syllabus is divided in 6 topics, which include sub-topics and studies that need to be known for the exam:

a) The patient-practitioner relationship:
• practitioner and patient interpersonal skills –
Non-verbal communications (e.g. McKinstry and Wang); verbal communications (e.g.
McKinlay, 1975; Ley, 1988).
• patient and practitioner diagnosis and style –
Practitioner style: doctor and patient-centred (Byrne and Long, 1976; Savage and Armstrong,1990). Practitioner diagnosis: type I and type II errors. Disclosure of information (e.g. Robinson and West, 1992).
• misusing health services –
Delay in seeking treatment (e.g. Safer, 1979). Misuse: hypochondriasis (e.g. Barlow and
Durand, 1995), Munchausen syndrome (e.g. Aleem and Ajarim, 1995).
b) Adherence to medical advice  
• types of non-adherence and reasons why patients don’t adhere –
Types and extent of non-adherence. Rational non-adherence (e.g. Bulpitt, 1988);customising treatment (e.g. Johnson and Bytheway, 2000).
• measuring adherence/non-adherence –
Subjective: self reports (e.g. Riekart and Droter, 1999). Objective: pill counting (e.g. Chung and Naya, 2000); biochemical tests (e.g. Roth, 1987); repeat prescriptions (e.g. Sherman, 2000).
• improving adherence –
Improve practitioner style (e.g. Ley, 1988), provide information (e.g. Lewin, 1992), behavioural techniques (e.g. Burke et al., 1997).

c) Pain:
• types and theories of pain –
Definitions of pain. Acute and chronic organic pain; psychogenic pain (e.g. phantom limb pain). Theories of pain: specifi city theory, gate control theory (Melzack, 1965).
• measuring pain –
Self report measures (e.g. clinical interview); psychometric measures and visual rating scales (e.g. MPQ, visual analogue scale), behavioural/observational (e.g. UAB). Pain measures for children (e.g. paediatric pain questionnaire, Varni and Thompson, 1976).
• managing and controlling pain –
Medical techniques (e.g. surgical; chemical). Psychological techniques: cognitive strategies (e.g. attention diversion, non-pain imagery and cognitive redefinition); alternative techniques (e.g. acupuncture, stimulation therapy/TENS).

d) Stress:
• causes/sources of stress –
Physiology of stress and effects on health. The GAS Model (Selye, 1936). Causes of stress:
lack of control (e.g. Geer and Maisel, 1972), work (e.g. Johansson, 1978), life events (Holmes and Rahe, 1967), personality (e.g. Friedman and Rosenman, 1974), daily hassles (e.g. Lazarus,1981).
• measures of stress –
Physiological measures: recording devices and sample tests (e.g. Geer and Maisel, 1972;
Johansson, 1978); self report questionnaires (Holmes and Rahe, 1967; Friedman and
Rosenman, 1974; Lazarus, 1981).
• management of stress –
Medical techniques (e.g. chemical). Psychological techniques: biofeedback (e.g. Budzynski et al., 1973) and imagery (e.g. Bridge, 1988). Preventing stress (e.g. Meichenbaum, 1985).

e) Health promotion:
• methods for promoting health –
Fear arousal (e.g. Janis and Feshbach, 1953; Leventhal et al., 1967). Yale model of
communication. Providing information (e.g. Lewin, 1992).
• health promotion in schools, worksites and communities –
Schools (e.g. Walter, 1985; Tapper et al., 2003). Worksites (e.g. Gomel, 1983). Communities
(e.g. three community study, Farquhar et al., 1977).
• promoting health of a specific problem – 
Any problem can be chosen (e.g. cycle helmet safety: Dannenberg, 1993; self-examination for breast/testicular cancer; obesity and diet: Tapper et al., 2003; smoking: McVey and Stapleton, 2000).
f) Health and safety:
• definitions, causes and examples –
Defi nitions of accidents; causes: theory A and theory B (Reason, 2000); examples of individual and system errors (e.g. Three Mile Island, 1979; Chernobyl, 1986).
• accident proneness and personality –
Accident prone personality; personality factors, e.g. age, personality type.
Human error (e.g. Riggio, 1990); illusion of invulnerability (e.g. The Titanic); cognitive overload (e.g. Barber, 1988).
• reducing accidents and promoting safety behaviours –
Reducing accidents at work: token economy (e.g. Fox et al., 1987); reorganising shift work; safety promotion campaigns (e.g. Cowpe, 1989).