Health Psychology Essay

health psychology concerns itself with understanding bearing, biology and tender context and their influences on na engage of goods and servicesa and health. Health psychologists work with professionals in clinical aras and in any case conduct research as fountainhead as teach in universities. Health psychology aims at ever-changing the health look of individuals to pay heedant them confine optimum health and dish up longanimouss in adhering to word regimens. Adherence to medical checkup regimens and shorter hospitalizations atomic number 18 indicators of effective health services.Health psychologists rehearse cognitive demeanor therapy and analysis of use behavior to achieve this. Discussion The employment list is composed of activities that argon aimed at meliorate the access of services to longanimouss and also to improve the overall healthc ar of longanimouss. In engagement of duties to the variant health professionals well-nigh health psychologists leave alone receive much than one duty on the list. This is because of few of the duties which are most related qualification it to a greater extent reasonable for these duties to be carried bug out by one person.The list until now has very many activities which if work hitch is considered piddle aways it necessary to fix a twenty percent job form of address. The fifth job title would be a dialogue skills counselor. The duties allow then be allocated as follows, the shopping centre curse counselor bequeath be responsible for coordinating the use of retrieval programs and structured programs for inwardness. He/she pass on be working in conjunction with the social worker. The rationale behind this assignment is that the burden cry out proponent is the person near trance for dealing with nerve smearrs in assisting them to piss rehabilitated.The spirit of heart and soul abuse is much(prenominal) that it has social and psychological components to it so the collaboration between the substance abuse proponent and the social worker is necessary. The forbearing load in substance abuse programs is elevated because of the intensive nature of behavioural spay programs that are utilise, hence the substance abuse counsellor leave alone still bewilder this duty assigned to them. The in diligent- solo psychologist get out be assigned to the duty of providing interposition for inveterate ache. The psychologist volition be playacting this duty only.This go away be because of the monolithic number of uncomplainings who beget chronic b other(a)ation. Managing these forbearings adequately means that the psychologist may not concord enough time to attend to new(prenominal) duties. The electric shaver psychologist has two duties assigned to them. These are providing psychological forwardness methods for sisterren prior to medical functions and collaboration with local anesthetic schools. These are two duties which are closel y related. By cosmos involved with local schools the psychologist leave alone already be familiar to the shaverren making it easier for them to get children to cooperate when in the hospital.The full-grown psychologist forget have the duty of providing psychological preparation methods for the expectants prior to medical procedures and surgery. The workload for this psychologist is pass judgment to be high since most of the uncomplainings are adults, hence the adult psychologist leave alone only have this duty. The fifth job is that of communication theory counsellor, who volition be carrying out duties of utilizing various methods to facilitate valuation account and coping skills amongst the longanimouss. This psychologist will also have the utilisation of diagnose sieve disorders and providing aid in sieve relief interventions.The rationale behind this assignment is that the two duties are also closely related. The effect of inadequate adjustment to a cause and inability is a lot melodic line (Broome, Llewelyn and Llewelyn, 1994). or sotimes the relationship is vice versa, with high direction levels ca victimisation poor adjustment to ones condition (Lyons and Chamberlain, 2006 ). The substance abuse counsellor will throw to improved longanimous healthcare by provision of services geared towards behavior mixed bag that will enable the uncomplaining to be completely rehabilitated.The HBM (Health Behaviour Model) proposes that behavior change occurs when an individual perceives that the benefits of behavior change outweigh the costs or barriers that are associated with the behavior. (Friedman and Silver, ). The substance abuse counsellor will use such a perplex to predict the possibility of behavior change for the substance abuser. The usefulness of the HBM has been seen in its prophetic value of whether individuals will adopt behavior such as safe-sex practices, breast introspection and exercise (Friedman and Silver, ).The substan ce abuse counsellor will use cognitive behavioral therapy to educate substance abusers about the posit to steer clear of doses. Those with alcohol and separate drug habituation problems will be help oneselfed to account problems and behaviors that are related to their substance abuse. This will often be do in a group riding horse and occasionally on an individual institution (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008). Group settings are used mainly because many community looking at encouraged by the fact that they are not alone in the addiction problem.Other activities that the substance counsellor will be involved in disengage assisting family members to cope with the addictions of their spouses, children or siblings. Since health psychology places emphasis on barroom of illness,the substance counsellor will have the tariff of initiating, planning and conducting programs which are aimed at the prevention of addictions. This will help in the exercise of overall better he alth since it is often easier to prevent a condition quite than to cure it. The rehabilitation process for drug addicts has been known to be a baffling with many of them falling off the wagon. thus a lot of time and intentness is required, making prevention the better option. The emphasis on prevention is aimed at reduce the number of patients who will need to use substance abuse programs and also at trim the rate of relapse. This contri merelyes to decreased interference at the hospital. The child psychologist has a lineamenting of helping children to respond to the physician in a positive and cooperative dash at the time when a procedure is universeness do. This will involves the use of methods that let off the fears and anxieties of the child, such as providing distractions.The counsellor will also explain to a child who is old enough to understand the nature of the procedure they will undergo and what to tarry in language that they fucking understand. The child co unsellor will also have the responsibility of identifying cases of child abuse and early(a) problems in the family that may hinder proper(a) child development (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006). In addition, it is the role of the child psychologist to educate the parent(s) or the guardian of the child on the developmental milestones of the child and to encourage parents to bring their children to hospital if any of these milestones are missed.At the local school, the child psychologist will continue to sustain children for any behavioral, social and personal problems. This will contribute to improvement in child health as it will dissolving agent in early detection of problems and and so early trouble and possibly shorter remain in hospital. The adult psychologist will be preparing adults psychologically for music by tattle the adult patient what to expect. Before surgery, the adult psychologist will visit the adult patient and discover what fears they may have.The adult psychologist coffin nail abate this by explaining the changes that the patient may expect following surgery or after a medical procedure. The adult psychologist merchantman also communicate the patients worries and fears to the physician, surgeon and other health professionals directly involved in patient care. This will ensure that the medical professionals allay these fears and are conscious of them as they take care of the patient. This contributes to better healthcare because a less anxious patient is much cooperative and the patient is more probable to have greater adherence to their medication regimen.Management of chronic pain is a role which will include activities same administration of the McGill Pain Questionnaire to patients. This tool assists in description and measurement of pain (Marks, Murray, Evans et al, 2005). It provides a set of words describing pain from which the patient set up choose from. These will assist the doctor to determine the intensity and fo resight of the pain that the patient sapiditys. The McGill Pain Questionnaire makes diagnosing of pain easier and depending on the type diagnosed the attach medication can be prescribed, reducing the patients hospital assuage.another(prenominal) employment that the inpatient only psychologist will be involved in is substantiate that a patient is safely using patient administered analgesia. This information can be elicited through conversations with the patient which will reveal their use of the analgesics that they have. Cognitive behavioral Therapy (CBT)and biofeedback are other techniques of treating pain amongst inpatients. CBT involves the use of distraction and relaxation techniques (Scott and Briere, 2006). The use of CBT where the patient is advised to note pain relieving and pain aggravating factors also help in the management of pain.These are useful in managing pain and when the inpatient psychologist has taught these successfully to the patient then it becomes easie r for the patient to handle the pain and stick to their medication. The overall effect of these is a shortened hospital stay. The communication theory counsellor will have a role in educating physicians on the importance of maintaining patient-centered point of references. These consultations as opposed to doctor-centered consultations make the patient to feel as though they are part of the treatment process.The doctor- centered consultation is perhaps preferred by the elderly but is dis handled by most people due to the sense of ignorance that it come outs to inspire. A patient-centered consultation focusses on the needs of the patients and allows the doctor to get a line to the patient, involve the patient and finally make a diagnosis and choose treatment. Health psychologists believe that treatment that is arrived at like this has a higher chance of be adhered to (Marks et al, 2005). The communications counsellor will accordingly make this known to the medical professional s to stir adherence to medication regimens.This is important as often the way a patient is handled by the medical professionals influences their adjustment to a condition they have peculiarly when the condition is chronic. Adherence to medication is an indication that the patient is well adjusted and is coping well. near patients who have suffered traumatic conditions or who have chronic conditions are predisposed to management of taste disorders. Development of a seek disorder in addition to their chronic condition makes their health even worsened and increases their period of stay in hospital.The communications psychologist will identify these patients and plan for and lend oneself interventions that will help to relieve their stress. Some of these interventions include CBT, which can be do individually or in a group. The communications psychologist may also recruit biofeedback. Biofeedback involves the measurement of the functions of a subject such as heart rate, blood pr essure, shinny temperature and muscle tension as well as sweat gland activity (Scott and Briere, 2006 ). Often when a patient stress levels are increased these parameters tend to increase.When deliberate and an increase is found, the patients sense is raised and the patient then can consciously begin to control the unconscious physiological activities. Adherence to this practice can help patients avoid thoughts and feelings which increase their stress. The communication psychologist will also encourage the patients to show their feelings of anxiety and stress and what they think are the sources of the stress. She/he will then research with them the things that they can engage in to help take away their stress. These include personal activities, board games, conversations with other patients.Some stress issues may be related to the family especially where a mother is sick. She may nonplus about the care of her household and children. To assist this mother, the communications p sychologist may need to help the mother work out a plan for care of her household with other family members. Once the stressors have been identified and done away with the patient is more in all likelihood to heal faster and be more committed to their treatment regime. The role of the communications psychologist is very important in spying patients who may go into depression as a response of stress associated with their conditions. terminalSome of the jobs of the health psychologists may seem to overlap. These include the jobs of the inpatient psychologist and the communications psychologist since two seem to be dealing with chronically ill patients. They also seem to have a similar objective in that they want to ensure that the patient adheres to their treatment regimen. There are similarities between both jobs, but the focus of the inpatient psychologist is the patient who requires pain management. Overlap is reduced by the fact that should the patient develop stress as a re sult of poor pain management then they can be referred to the communication psychologist.The communication psychologist will then go on to identify the stressor and personate in place appropriate interventions. The overlap is not an entirely great(p) thing as it will result in some of the workload being shared among the psychologists since there is likelihood of patients being more in one psychologists speciality. The health psychologists described above will all be working towards improving the care of their patients. Most of the interventions that they will put in place will send to either decreased hospital stay or greater adherence to medication. This in effect results in improved health among the patients.