Health Psychologists (health + psychologist)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Multiple sclerosis: Empirical literature for the clinical health psychologist

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2001
David C. Mohr
This article reviews the empirical literature related to clinical health psychology in multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a disease in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system. As such, the interactions between medical and psychological variables are complex, and potentially of considerable importance to patients. Common neuropsychological and psychological problems associated with MS and their etiologies are reviewed. The effects of stress and depression on MS exacerbation are discussed, including clinical, immune, endocrine, and neuroimaging findings. The types of coping common in MS and their effects on adjustment are discussed. The empirical literature on psychological and neuropsychological intervention is reviewed. The small literature on caregiving in MS is also summarized. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 57: 479,499, 2001 [source]


Prescribing non-psychopharmacological agents: A new potential role for psychologists in primary care settings and specialty clinics

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 10 2006
Jay E. Earles
At least 10 years have passed since the Department of Defense Psychopharmacology Demonstration Project graduated its first class of psychologists. All graduates of that program were credentialed to prescribe and the program received promising external reviews and audits. The profession has since moved well beyond the initial question, "Can and should psychologists prescribe?" posed over two decades ago. A number of professional schools and training institutions have implemented postdoctoral psychopharmacology training programs and over 20 states are actively pursuing legislative agendas. Given recent initiatives to provide health psychology services within the primary care arena, the authors introduce a new role in the scope of psychology's prescribing activities. They propose that psychopharmacological agents are not the only medications psychologists should be trained to prescribe and psychopharmacology training should include course work and supervision related to treatment within a primary care patient setting in addition to a traditional psychiatric one. The authors provide the rationale for primary care clinical health psychology training as the appropriate mechanism for psychopharmacology education and practice. Public health needs and epidemiological data provide the rationale for health psychologists additionally prescribing non-psychopharmacological agents. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 62: 1213,1220, 2006. [source]


Ethical Issues for Psychologists in Pain Management

PAIN MEDICINE, Issue 2 2001
Mary Lou Taylor PhD
Pain management is relatively young as a specialty. Although increasing attention is being paid to issues such as pain at the end of life and pain in underserved populations, only recently has an open discussion of ethical issues in chronic pain treatment come to the fore. Psychologists specializing in pain management are faced with a myriad of ethical issues. Although many of these problems are similar to those faced by general clinical psychologists or other health psychologists, they are often made more complex by the multidisciplinary nature of pain management and by the psychologists' relationships to third-party payers (health maintenance organizations, workers' compensation), attorneys, or other agencies. An open forum exploring ethical issues is needed. This article outlines major ethical considerations faced by pain management psychologists, including patient autonomy and informed consent, confidentiality, reimbursement and dual relationships, patient abandonment, assessment for medical procedures, clinical research, and the interface of psychology and medicine. American Psychological Association ethical principles and principles of biomedical ethics need to be considered in ethical decision making. Further exploration and discussion of ethics for pain management psychologists are recommended. [source]


Children's Primary Health Care Services: A Social-Cognitive Model of Sustained High Use

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2001
David M. Janicke
Significant percentages of children exhibit patterns of sustained high use of primary health care services. Unfortunately, current models fail to explain the processes that drive and maintain such patterns. We draw upon the pediatric utilization and social-cognitive literature to develop a model that explains the mechanisms that ultimately drive and maintain patterns of prolonged high use. Specifically, we propose that parental stress and low self-efficacy for coping with various parenting and life demands interact to drive the utilization of pediatric services. We outlined sequelae of frequent physician that serve to maintain high use. This model suggests a number of psychological interventions that clinical health psychologists might undertake to remediate inappropriate, sustained high use of children's primary healthcare services. [source]