Health Psychology

Course aim

Students will critically examine the relationship between individual psychological processes and health and apply psychological theory to the development of behavioural health interventions.

Course content

In this course students will develop an advanced understanding of health psychology (including psychological theories, health behaviour and beliefs, the influence of personality, gender and culture, models of health, assessing health information, social and environmental factors, the relationship between stress and illness, addiction and substance abuse, and terminal illness). They will understand how the application of this knowledge may be applied to improve health (including relaxation techniques, psychological strategies, changing health attitudes and beliefs, pain management, relapse prevention, coronary heart disease prevention, and health policies) and the ethics of health psychology research and practice. Students will apply this knowledge in the development of a health behaviour change plan.

Textbook(s)

Dorrian, J. Day, M. Di Benedetto, M. Hutchinson, A. Lane-Krebs & K. Thorsteinsson, E. 2017, Health Psychology in Australia, 1st ed, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, Australia

Prerequisite(s)

Common to all relevant programs
Subject Area & Catalogue Number	Course Name
BEHL 2005	Introductory Research Methods

The listed prerequisite plus two Level 2 psychology courses.

Corequisite(s)

Nil

Teaching method

Component	Duration
INTERNAL, MAGILL
Lecture	2 hours x 13 weeks
Workshop	1 hour x 13 weeks

Note: These components may or may not be scheduled in every study period. Please refer to the timetable for further details.

Assessment

Examination, Practical report

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 1)
To determine the fee for this course as part of a Commonwealth Supported program, go to:
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Fee-paying program for domestic and international students
International students and students undertaking this course as part of a postgraduate fee paying program must refer to the relevant program home page to determine the cost for undertaking this course.

Non-award enrolment
Non-award tuition fees are set by the university. To determine the cost of this course, go to:
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Not all courses are available on all of the above bases, and students must check to ensure that they are permitted to enrol in a particular course.

* Equivalent Full Time Study Load. Please note: all EFTSL values are published and calculated at ten decimal places. Values are displayed to three decimal places for ease of interpretation.