HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

Catalog description

This course studies the psychological and social factors influencing health and the basic psychosocial processes in selected diseases and disabilities, along with presentation of basic medical terminology. Content areas include foundations of health psychology, research in health psychology, biological foundations of health and illness, stress and health, coping with stress, health behavior, health promotion and disease prevention, positive psychology, nutrition and obesity, substance abuse, chronic and lif e-threatening illnesses (e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, HIV and AIDS), pain management, treatment seeking and adherence, health care settings and the patient-provider relationship, complementary and alternative medicine, and the present an d future of health psychology. Attention will be given to the integration of these content areas and the perspective of the Catholic understanding of the human person. Prerequisite: PSYC 201* or BIOL 250.