Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology, Unit Catalogue 2008/09 |
PA40250 Health psychology |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Masters |
| Semester: 2 |
| Assessment: CW 50%, EX 50% |
| Requisites: |
|
Aims: To introduce students to basic concepts and current themes and debates in psychology. To introduce students to concepts, theory, methods and applications of health psychology and relate these to pharmacy practice.
Learning Outcomes: a) Appreciate the basic theory underpinning psychology as a discipline, its historical origins, development and limitations; b) Understand the concept of health psychology its origins and history; c) Understand contrasting approaches to the understanding of health and healthcare; d) Understand how people's health beliefs affect behaviour over time; e) Define and explain the relationship between health, ill-health and psychology; f) Be able to set the psychology of health within the context of pharmacy practice. Skills: a) Recognise the inherent variability and diversity of psychological functioning and its significance in relation to pharmacy practice; b) Reason scientifically, understand the role of evidence and make critical judgements about arguments in health psychology; c) Recognise meaningful patterns in behaviour and evaluate their significance; d) Communicate ideas and research findings both effectively and fluently by written, oral and visual means; e) Solve problems by clarifying questions, considering alternative solutions and evaluating outcomes; f) Take charge of own learning and reflect and evaluate personal strengths and weaknesses for the purposes of own professional and personal development. Content: The module will comprise a 10 lecture series with a health psychology issue each week. The lectures will be complemented with a 1 hour workshop each week with students actively developing their skills of applying health psychology to pharmacy practice. The 10 lectures will cover issues such as an introduction to health psychology, epidemiology, health cognition models, beliefs about health and illness, positive well-being, stress and stress management, communication, taking health risks and social support and health. |