Module PHP-3006:
Topics in Illness & Disability

Overview

Models of health and illness; biomedical, social-environmental and biopsychosocial models of disability; illness perceptions and the self-regulation of illness; the role of assistive technology; coping; pain; cognitive, emotional and behavioural models of illness outcomes; families and disease; carer strain and gain; assessing patient outcomes, mood and QoL; dr-patient communication and healthcare decision-making; developing and evaluating interventions

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -(D) Adequate answer to the question, largely based on lecture material. No real development of arguments or evidence of critique.

-good -(B) Reasonably comprehensive coverage of both the underlying theory and empirical material relevant to health psychology. Well organised and structured answer demonstrating a good understanding of health psychology concepts and their application in research and practice

-excellent -(A) Comprehensive and accurate coverage of the area demonstrating a synthesis of relevant material, clarity of argument and expression. Depth of insight into theoretical issues with back up from empirical evidence base showing a strong grasp of health psychology concepts and their application in research and practice.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate how theory is applied in psychological assessments common to the practice of health psychology by means of evaluation published intervention studies in terms of their processes and outcomes.

• Demonstrate understanding of current theories of responses to illness through critical evaluation of competing explanations of illness and disability (cultural, social, individual, biomedical), and place these within contemporary health psychology.

• Interpret and demonstrate understanding of empirical findings from correlational, prospective or 
interventional studies in terms of their relevance to a) assessment b) theory and c) 
healthcare practice and intervention

• Review and sythesise empirical evidence so as to generate a proposal for a theoretically derived and evidence-based intervention targeted at patients, their informal carers, or health care practitioners.

• Understand the principles underlying biomedical and biopsychosocial explanations of illness and how these underpin theories of symptom perception, interpretation and coping response