Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Setting out: using this book
- 1 Locating the field: introducing health psychology
- 2 Thinking about health and the body
- 3 Choosing lifestyles
- 4 Controlling the body
- 5 Becoming ill
- 6 Comprehending bodily experience
- 7 Interacting with health professionals
- 8 Treating illness
- 9 Being ill
- 10 Dying
- 11 Relocating the field: critical health psychology
- Glossary
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
11 - Relocating the field: critical health psychology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Setting out: using this book
- 1 Locating the field: introducing health psychology
- 2 Thinking about health and the body
- 3 Choosing lifestyles
- 4 Controlling the body
- 5 Becoming ill
- 6 Comprehending bodily experience
- 7 Interacting with health professionals
- 8 Treating illness
- 9 Being ill
- 10 Dying
- 11 Relocating the field: critical health psychology
- Glossary
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
- References
Summary
We live in a world in which poverty and inequalities in wealth and access to resources are the major causes of ill-health.
(Campbell & Murray, 2004, p. 194)[T]he most powerful corporations are more powerful than many elected governments, able to influence legislation, especially in relation to health, education and welfare and to ensure massive public expenditures in support of the medical model, including pharmacological consumption.
(Albee & Fryer, 2003, p. 74)[H]ealth psychologists are seriously reflecting on their discipline and attempting to articulate theories and methods so that they can participate in the broader movement for social justice and health.
(Murray & Campbell, 2003, p. 235)Learning objectives
The aim of this chapter is to reflect on health psychology as a field, and to consider the approach taken to health psychology in this text. We consider the critical perspective taken, and how this influences conceptualisations of, and research on, health and illness. By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
show an understanding of the traditional approaches to health research and their limitations;
discuss social influences on health and illness;
reflect on alternative possibilities for research into health and illness;
outline challenges and opportunities for improving health from a global international perspective;
explain what is meant by a ‘critical’ perspective on health and illness research;
compare and contrast ‘critical health psychology’ with ‘mainstream health psychology’;
describe the requirements for enabling health psychology to enhance its contributions to the health and well-being of individuals, communities and societies.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Health PsychologyA Critical Introduction, pp. 347 - 369Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006