Cuban health psychology: A priority is the primary health care system

Cuban health psychology has experienced a great expansion during the last 25 years, both in the number of psychologists and in range of activities in the field. Today, psychologists are integrated at all levels of the national health system, an achievement which is particularly interesting in that Cuba is a developing country. In a position isolated from trends in international psychology, Cuba has developed a role for psychologists within the field of health which is adapted to its situation as a poor and socialistic country. Priority is given to preventive and community-based psychology within primary health care facilities. Psychologists in primary health care serve a composite client-group, with high priority given to pregnant women and to children. The work of these psychologists covers a wide range of health problems—-physical as well as mental—and focuses upon individuals as bio-psycho-social units. Their responsibilities include health promotion, disease prevention, consultation and treatment, rehabilitation, research and education. This report is based on a 2½ month long field study in Cuba, where Cuban health psychology, particularly as it relates to primary health care, was explored.     

Board certification in health psychology

As professional practice in health psychology has matured, mechanisms for board certification through the American Board of Professional Psychology have been developed. This article describes the American Board of Health Psychology and its role in the credentialing of practitioners who demonstrate advanced competence in the science and practice of psychology related to health, including the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of illness.     

Issues in training clinical health psychologists

The author describes general issues in the training of clinical health psychologists and provides an overview of specific content needed in core health psychology and clinical health psychology assessment and intervention. Special attention is given to training in professional, personal, ethical and legal issues of practice.     

Clinical psychology in medical settings: Psychology's role in health care

The number of clinical psychologists working in medical settings has grown along with the range of services provided by psychologists to patients with a multitude of medical problems across the lifespan. Medical care cost savings brought about by these psychological interventions is highlighted along with issues of public policy and specialization of training. The opportunity for ongoing development of clinical psychology in medical settings is described as unlimited and the mission of the newJournal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings is presented as supporting that growth.     

Encounter group counsellor training with pre-service industrial psychologists: A pilot study

This study explored the efficacy of an encounter group counsellor training protocol to prepare pre-service industrial-organisational (I-O) psychologists as workplace counsellors. The participants included 48 master’s degree students enrolled for I-O professional education at a South African university over the span of two years (female = 59%, aged 23 to 30 years, white = 79% and Afrikaans speaking = 70%). They were engaged in an encounter group training process as part of their professional preparation. Qualitative impressions on the students’ experiences impacting on their intra-and interpersonal awareness were gathered after the training using a structured observation design. The data were thematically analysed and the findings indicated the participants portrayed a higher sense of inter-and intrapersonal awareness following the encounter group training. Encounter group experiences might be of added value in the training of future I-O psychologists for interpersonal awareness.     

A rose by any other name: Maintaining the name and highlighting the uniqueness of psychology as a health care profession

In this article, we reply to the comments made by Holden and Levant (preceding articles). While we agree with their goals of expanding the scope of practice of psychology, standardizing training, and educating the public and other health care professionals about the field of clinical psychology, we do not agree that changing the discipline's name to psychological physician is a necessary or sufficient means to these ends. We outline the bases for our disagreement with the name change proposal and provide other proposals for reaching the goals set forth by Holden and Levant.     

A role for clinical psychology in health care and policy concerning the physical environment

Some persons adversely react to specific environments, while others are impervious or actually thrive. Medical attention often overlooks such sensitivities to the physical environment. Such sensitivities, including phobias and seasonal affectivity, fall within clinical psychology's purview. A theoretical/clinical approach called the Synchronous Systems Model, which defines and uses individual differences in people and in settings, could serve medical health care and policy. When specific people are matched appropriately with specific treatments within the most propitious settings, cost effectiveness and medical efficacy rise. Such documented accountability could make clinical psychologists central to triage of medical services as well as health care policy in these days of the shrinking health care dollar. The Synchronous Systems Model provides theory, supportive data, and clinical assessment devices to strengthen clinical psychology's role in medical settings.     

The interpretation of change in verbal reports: Implications for health psychology

Abstract

This paper raises a number of issues for health psychology in relation to the interpretation of change in verbal reports. Drawing on a typology of change developed to evaluate organisational interventions, it is suggested that change may occur at an alpha level (e.g. changed health status), beta level (e.g. a recalibration of the respondent's scale for assessing health status) or gamma level (e.g. a reconceptualisation of the meaning attached to health). Given the likely presence of beta and/or gamma change in intervention data in health psychology, researchers may be analysing their change data at an inappropriate level. A number of existing methodologies which attempt to detect beta and gamma change are presented and discussed. The need to develop further methodologies which focus more explicitly on the nature of change is highlighted. Finally, the proposed typology has a number of practical implications for the design of health promotion interventions.     

A critical evaluation of the use of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in health psychology

With the burgeoning use of qualitative methods in health research, criteria for judging their value become increasingly necessary. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a distinctive approach to conducting qualitative research being used with increasing frequency in published studies. A systematic literature review was undertaken to identify published papers in the area of health psychology employing IPA. A total of 52 articles are reviewed here in terms of the following: methods of data collection, sampling, assessing wider applicability of research and adherence to the theoretical foundations and procedures of IPA. IPA seems applicable and useful in a wide variety of research topics. The lack of attention sometimes afforded to the interpretative facet of the approach is discussed.     

Training clinical psychologists for rural and northern practice: Transforming challenge into opportunity

Abstract: The Rural and Northern Program (R&NP) of the University of Manitoba's Department of Clinical Health Psychology (DCHP) is a unique training and service delivery platform that was developed in response to the scarcity of psychological services in rural and northern areas of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Since 1996 rural and northern‐based psychologists, in conjunction with the faculty based in Winnipeg (Manitoba's largest city) have offered training to two interns and one postdoctoral resident (resident) yearly. The current article discusses the nature of the program, the regions of Manitoba that the program services, and recruitment and retention data. The authors conclude by offering suggestions for creating sustainable rural/northern psychological practice.     

Celebrating argument within psychology: Dialogue,negation, and feminist critique

This article explores the celebratory aspect of psychological theories. In particular, it examines the celebration of dialogue, argumentation, and negativity, which is contained within recent critical theories of psychology. This psychological approach is compared with cognitive psychology's celebration of monologue. The relations between dialogical/rhetorical psychology and feminist critiques are examined. Following Habermas, it is suggested that it is necessary to point to instances of unconstrained argumentation in order to show that the utopian elements in the celebration of argument are based upon a realized psychology. It is suggested that one can look to the voices of women for such instances, in order to avoid incorporating patriarchal structures into the celebration. One such instance reveals the self-reflexivity of argumentation, and that the celebration of argument also involves preserving argumentation's other. Thus, the resulting argumentative psychology should not only be self-reflexive but should itself express and preserve its own sense of otherness.     

Beyond the qualitative paradigm: A framework for introducing diversity within qualitative psychology

The case for qualitative research in psychology is considered. We argue against the idea that qualitative research is merely a matter of technique or method, and question the utility of viewing it as a unitary paradigm. Rather, the links between epistemology, methodology, and method are explored within three theorized strands of qualitative inquiry, making reference to illustrative projects. Each strand is organized around a different approach to the issues of justifying and warranting psychological knowledge: (1) reliability and validity; (2) generativity and grounding; and (3) discourse and reflexivity. These are exemplified in Miles and Huberman's ‘data display’ model, Glaser and Strauss' method of ‘grounded theory’, and in various forms of ‘discourse’ analysis. Reflections upon points of contact between the three strands address two main issues: (1) rendering research publicly accountable; and (2) challenging relativism.     

Training in health psychology: An international look

With the progression of health psychology as a new field in psychology specific training programs are more and more needed. A survey of the training situation of health psychology in Northern America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand highlighted a lack of formalized training programs in most countries except the United States and Canada, as well as an enormous variety between countries on standards of training, and on the differentiation of health psychologists from clinical psychologists.

For the qualification of health psychology as an independent psychological discipline a plea is made for international standardization of quality control and suggestions for the content of formalized training programs in health psychology are given.     

Current issues and new directions in psychology and health: Culture and health psychology. Why health psychologists should care about culture

This paper presents five studies with 2,420 total participants on the development and validation of the Exercise Dependence Scale (EDS), which is conceptualized based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV (APA, 1994) criteria for substance dependence, and differentiates among at-risk, nondependent-symptomatic, and nondependent-asymptomatic exercisers. Results of the studies revealed evidence for the a priori hypothesized components, acceptable test-retest and internal consistency reliability, and content and concurrent validity of the EDS. Individuals at-risk for exercise dependence reported more strenuous exercise, perfectionism, and self-efficacy compared to the nondependent groups. The findings provide initial support for the EDS and indicate the need for a multifaceted approach to its conceptualization and measurement.     

Developing theories and models to serve: A manifesto for indigenous psychologists

This article reviews the theoretical foundations of Height Psychology, which proposes that researchers not only do research but act on their ideas to make the world a better place. It is posited that researchers should be passionate humanist whose thoughts propel actions and whose actions propel new thoughts, and they should be engaged change agents who work with communities in defining and solving problems rather than being disinterested scientists who are only interested in creating a body of objective knowledge. This approach is likely to fit the worldview of non‐western psychologists engaged in indigenous psychology, and also allow the development of global psychology that is culturally integrated and not excessively biased toward western or experimental psychology.     

Human rights and applied psychology

Applied and community psychology necessarily involves the consideration of human rights issues. The problems experienced by many of the clients of applied psychologists result from human rights abuses, the provisions of the Human Rights Act (1998) relate to the everyday practice of applied and community psychologists, and psychologists have a distinctive perspective on human rights. For psychologists, human rights reflect formalized systems for ensuring that people's basic needs are satisfied. Declarations of human rights and legal provisions therefore represent, for psychologists, codifications of how we collectively understand our relationships and social obligations. It is therefore argued that psychologists should positively advocate for the application of psychological science to these issues. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A brief history of Romanian psychology

The evolution of Romanian psychology followed several stages, similarly to other countries in Eastern Europe, yet with its own particularities. The first psychology institutes were introduced by former students of Wilhelm Wundt, and the field saw a rapid development, with distinguished scholars making relevant scientific contributions. However, after the communist regime was enforced, psychology stagnated somewhat due to ideological, financial, and political reasons, and, in 1977, it was even removed from academia. After 1989, psychology revived in academia and research, and as a profession as well. This article summarizes the evolution of Romanian psychology through these stages, focusing on its postcommunist revival.