Health Psychology, 2nd Edition

Future directions,

roles and

competencies

11

CHAPTER PLAN

We have seen how health psychology research can reveal psychological processes
underpinning health and illness and thereby suggest changes in health care practice
designed to optimize effectiveness. In this chapter we anticipate future directions in
health psychology research and consider the contributions that health psychologists can
make to health care systems. The chapter consists of two sections: (1) future research
directions in health psychology; and (2) roles and competencies for health psychologists.

When you have completed this chapter you should be able to:

1 Discuss possible future directions in health psychology research.

2 Identify key contexts in which professional health psychologists practise and

discuss the competencies they apply.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS IN HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

We began by examining the main pathways through which psychological factors
impact on physiological functioning and health. In particular, links between the
hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and the sympathetic adrenal medullary system and
the cardiovascular system (including effects on blood pressure) and how stress can affect
the immune system (e.g. wound healing) and exacerbate pain. Recent research in this
area has also considered how stress can result in premature ageing. It appears that stress
can literally get under our skin, at a cellular level! For example, Verhoeven et al.(2015)
found that psychological stress was associated with increased ageing of our DNA. They
found that recent life stress shortened the length of important components of our DNA
known as telomeres. In fact, these findings were similar to an earlier study by Epel