Health psychology and public policy: The political process.

During the past 20 years, psychologists have successfully modified federal statutes, resulting in recognition of the profession's clinical and research expertise. Despite these successes, professional psychology's training institutions have largely failed to address basic issues in health policy and the implications of national health policy for psychology. The importance of public health programs under Title VII of the Public Health Act and the significance of full inclusion of psychology in all federal health programs, including Titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid), are poorly understood by most health psychologists. Federal health policy decisions, including management of excessive federal health spending, will dictate the growth and opportunities for health psychologists. Understanding federal health spending and recent federal initiatives such as Resource Based Relative Value Scale, Diagnostic Related Groups, and practice guidelines will be of benefit to health psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating psychology and public health: Challenges and opportunities.

Psychology has made significant strides in developing applications relevant to public health. However, improvements are still needed to integrate psychology into the public health infrastructure. The challenge for public health is to recognize psychology's special contributions to policy and practice, especially to prevention of disease and injury. The challenge for psychology is to assure coherent integration of relevant theories, knowledge bases, and public health practice. Recommendations to address these challenges include (a) demonstrating how psychology incrementally improves public health service systems; (b) developing middle range and small theories of public health problems and practice (Lipsey, 1993; Merton, 1968); (c) developing intervention models in partnership with nonpsychologists so that the effects can become widespread; and (d) ongoing scrutiny of the intervention models to assure that theory has been operationalized well. Psychology's unique role in public health is to act as the steward of a correct application of behavioral knowledge and theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology in clinical health psychology: The impact of specialty perspective.

Not all clinical health psychologists are trained as clinical psychologists. A significant minority is trained and identifies as counseling psychologists. As a field, it is important to understand how the specialty-specific values, training context, scholarship, and parameters of practice of counseling psychology contribute to clinical health psychology. In this article, we (a) identify the core values and training context of counseling psychology, (b) review the scholarly history of clinical health psychology by counseling psychologists, (c) present the parameters of practice of clinical health psychology as identified from the extant counseling psychology literature, and (d) examine American Psychological Association membership status to investigate joint membership in the Division of Health Psychology and the Society of Counseling Psychology. Conclusions indicate that (a) an identifiable set of core values guides the training of counseling psychologists, (b) scholarly literature by counseling psychologists has contributed to the growth and development of clinical health psychology, and (c) parameters of practice reflect the specialty-specific perspective of counseling psychology. As professional psychology continues to grow as a health care profession, clinical health psychology will benefit from the knowledge, values, attitudes, competencies, and practice parameters of counseling psychology, and counseling psychology will benefit from recognizing what it brings to the practice of clinical health psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The potential for public health psychology.

Describes a new program that combines clinical/community psychology with training in public health and business administration. The discussion includes factors underlying the planning process, the contribution of its component parts to the program's overall goals, extramural support, and the potential marketplace for graduates. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health care megatrends and health psychology.

Reviews the literature for historical, educational, and health care delivery system contributors to the field of health psychology, which is a major new area of professional practice that has emerged during a period of rapid changes in the health care industry. Four megatrends in medicine and health care are discussed that impinge upon health psychology: the "demythologization" of medicine, changing patterns of medical practice, "remedicalization" of psychiatrists, and alterations in financing health care. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perspectives on the interface between psychology and public health.

Suggests that scientific psychology can make a unique contribution to the understanding of mechanisms linking behavior and health. This understanding in turn provides a knowledge base for generating and directing needed public health interventions. It is further suggested that the public health perspective provides a corrective for the individual orientation of psychology and facilitates the application of psychology to policy issues. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In the public eye: The ethical practice of media psychology.

Psychologists are frequently asked to work with the media in responding to current events or educating the public about psychological issues. This can run the gamut, from an occasional interview with a reporter to a weekly gig as a radio call-in host. Many psychologists have little or no training in media psychology, but it is critical to obtain such training before entering the quicksand that working with the media can easily become. There are many ethical dilemmas inherent in media work, and this article enumerates many, including competence and confidentiality. Psychologists must educate themselves about the topic being discussed, often with a “heads-up” from the reporter in advance. Reporters will often ask for clients to be provided as examples to add depth to the story. The confidentiality and welfare of the client must be considered. It is important to think clearly about many ethical issues to make working with the media a positive professional experience and an important public service. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction and comment on the special section: Health psychology and public policy.

Health psychology is highly relevant to public policy. However, in the past, the journal, Health Psychology, has not devoted a significant number of pages to policy issues. This special section of Health Psychology introduces several issues relevant to policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational health psychology: The convergence of health and clinical psychology with public health and preventive medicine in an organizational context.

Occupational health psychology (OHP) applies psychology in organizational settings for the improvement of work life, the protection and safety of workers, and the promotion of healthy work. This article has three sections, the first of which offers a historical and educational perspective on this emerging field, which actually dates to the turn of the past century in America. The second section reviews three dimensions in OHP: the work environment, the individual, and the work–family interface. Concepts within each dimension are discussed. The third section offers an intervention framework based on the public health notions of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adolescent health care: A public policy perspective.

Focuses on the importance of psychosocial and behavioral components of health care in the area of adolescent health care. The authors contend that it will ultimately be as a direct result of psychology's tangible (and visual) successes in areas such as adolescent health that will lead to psychological services becoming fully accepted within the overall health care system. The underlying policy notion is that if psychology addresses society's perceived needs, society (i.e., the nation's public policy/political leadership) will strive to meet the mental health profession's needs. The majority of problems adolescents face, regardless of apparent physical symptomatology, are essentially behavioral (psychosocial) in nature. The symptom distress model provides for a school-based integration of psychological knowledge with clinical and educational expertise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stumbling blocks to the practice of health psychology: A Canadian perspective.

Argues that Canadian provincial legislation regulating the practice of medicine ignores the common goals of medicine and health psychology and therefore may impede the practice of health psychology in Canada. It is suggested that the contributions made by health psychology practitioners in the treatment of physical injuries or diseases be recognized. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehabilitation psychology and public health: Commonalities, barriers, and bridges.

Purpose: Those in rehabilitation and those in public health have worked to find a place in their respective disciplines. In this article, the author attempts to outline some of the commonalities inherent in the two areas, the barriers to joint work, and the bridges that may be able to allow a more comfortable interaction between the two. Conclusion: Practical realities in modern society have created the need for a closer bond among rehabilitation psychology, disability, and public health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maximizing the effectiveness of psychology in public mental health services.

Rather than a preoccupation with diagnosis and pathology, psychologists should direct their attention to the capacity of individuals for adaptation and adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health psychology and the ashes of community psychology.

Suggests that while health psychology can have an impact on health behaviors, as noted by J. D. Matarazzo (see record 1982-25842-001), enthusiasm for this field should not overshadow the important contributions that can be made by community psychology in mobilizing people to fight for their political, economic, and health rights. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Free will in psychology—In search of a geniuin compatibilism.

Attempts to develop a genuine compatabilist model of the free will and to implement this model into psychology. The task of the model is to present an alternative to those versions of the compatabilist notion, which rightly seen are nothing but soft versions of determinism. This alternative is (1) based on an integration of a soft version of determinism with a soft version of indeterminism, and (2) based on a nonmystical and scientific concept of downward causality, and thereby is placed in the domain of science and in a materialist ontology. This leads to a hierarchical multi-layer model, the core notion of which is the soft deterministic concept of bottom-up constituting dynamics and the soft indeterministic concept of top-down organizational dynamics. It is in this existential tension field between constitutional and organizational dynamics that our very human nature in general, and free will in particular, develop. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

From mental health to social action: Clinical psychology in historical perspective.

Presents the shift from a clinical service framework to broadening social action involvement of clinical psychology since World War II. The origins of this movement are discussed. Current trends are presented. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the psychology of passion: In search of what makes people's lives most worth living.

The purpose of the present paper is to present a new conceptualisation on passion for activities, the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) and an overview of related research. Passion is defined as a strong inclination toward an activity that people like, find important, and in which they invest time and energy. This model further posits the existence of two types of passion each associated with different outcomes and experiences. Harmonious passion originates from an autonomous internalisation of the activity in identity and leads people to choose to engage in the activity that they love. It is expected to mainly lead to more adaptive outcomes. Conversely, obsessive passion originates from a controlled internalisation in identity and leads people to experience an uncontrollable urge to engage in the activity. It is hypothesised to predict less adaptive outcomes. Results of several studies conducted with a variety of participants, activities, and outcomes provide support for the model. The development of passion was also addressed. These studies clearly support the significant role of passion in people's lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical psychology and the search for identity.

Students "are not given an integrated model with which to identify but are confronted instead by 2 apparently conflicting models—the scientific-research model and the clinical-practitioner model." To resolve the dissonance "most students tend to identify with either the research or the practitioner model, and to blot out or defend… against the other." There are severe identity problems for the clinical psychologist. "… the most pressing need in clinical psychology pertains to a reorganization of training, practice, and research in our approved university settings" to help provide a sound identity for clinical psychology and for eventually allowing a worthwhile contribution to be made to problems of personality maladjustment and change. Psychology requires its own clinical facility where research and practice are intimately related and tied together. "The psychological center would not only emphasize both research and practice, but would demonstrate the mutual interaction and reciprocal relationship of the 2." (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women and psychology: An international perspective.

This article examines the status of women in psychology internationally. Earlier research is reviewed and compared with recent findings, including a survey responded to by 40 individuals from countries around the world. Although improvements for women have been noted in many areas, problem of sexism and antifeminism still exist. The importance of comparative analyses across countries because of increasing worldwide interaction among psychologists is noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)