Aim of Unit 15:
Unit 15 Psychology for Health and Social Care would focus on the psychological factors affecting the users who access the facilities of the healthcare as well as social care. It would draw from the various learning’s the psychology has given to study these factors. It would use the approaches like the humanistic, cognitive and psychodynamic in this section. It would further include insights from sociology like deviance theory, socialization among others. This section would focus on helping those who have experiences in the psychological aspects of social care and health. This part would help the relevant professionals to have an understanding of the social functioning. It would also help them to know how roles are fixed.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this unit a learner will:
- Understand theories of lifespan development
- Understand social and biological determinants of human behaviour displayed in health and social care contexts
- Understand how psychological theories are applied to health and social care practice.
Unit content
LO1. Understand theories of lifespan development
This section would describe the theories of lifespan development. The theories would cover the life stages like infancy and adulthood. The thermos would be dealt from various angles like the discontinuity vs. continuity, dynamic and static and stage vs. open theories. It would also discuss other aspects like the idiographic vs. homothetic perspectives of the lifespan development theories. Different categories of theories would be used like the humanistic, psychodynamic and cognitive. Theories given by various psychologists like Freud, Maslow, Rogers, Piaget, Beck and Eriksen. It would also use inputs from theorists like Havighurst, Kohlberg, Gutmann, Buhler, Lowenthal, Gould, Berne, and Loevinger.
LO2. Understand social and biological determinants of human behavior displayed in health and social care contexts
This section would help to understand the various biological and social denominators of behavior of humans in the backdrop of healthcare and social care. Different social factors like family, education, culture, socialization, media, social exclusion and others would be discussed Biological issues that determine behavior like traits, blueprints, genetics and the presence of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease would also be covered in this section. Various conceptual models which describe the social factors like concept of conformity, self-concept of Meade and Cooley, relationships among others. It would describe the theories and the factors in the context of sick role behavior, use and misuse of healthcare and social care services among others.
LO3. Understand how psychological theories are applied to health and social care practice
This section would help the learner grasp the theories from psychological area are applied to social care and healthcare. It would cover the application from the angles of psychological stress like work stress, autism related disorders, and behavior related to addiction. Disorders like attention deficit disorder, neurosis, psychosis, schizophrenia among others would also be discussed. Some angles like the effects of the health promotion, coping strategies, normalization theory based policy, projection, perception on the behavior would also be discussed. The effects of factors like denial, dissonance, compensation for loss of identity would also be covered. It would also cover the relationships angle of behavior like the relationships with the families and the healthcare officials.
Learning outcomes and assessment criteria
| Learning outcomes On successful completion of this unit a learner will: | Assessment criteria for pass The learner can: |
| LO1 Understand theories of lifespan development | compare different psychological theories of lifespan development explain how psychological theories and concepts are related to specific life stages |
| LO2 Understand social and biological determinants of human behaviour displayed in health and social care contexts | explain social and biological factors that influence human behaviour analyse the importance of social roles in the context of health and social care settings |
| LO3 Understand how psychological theories are applied to health and social care practice. | analyse the application of psychological theories to individuals experiencing elevated levels of stress analyse how psychological theories relate to behaviour disturbance analyse how psychological theory informs understanding of mental health disorders evaluate the application of psychological principles to affecting behaviour change in health and social care settings analyse how psychological theories can enhance understanding of relationships in health and socialcare. |
Links
This unit has links with, for example:
- Unit 8: The Sociological Context of Health and SocialCare
- Unit 10: Safeguarding in Health and SocialCare
- Unit 11: The Role of Public Health in Health and SocialCare
- Unit 16: Understanding Specific Needs in Health and SocialCare
- Unit 22: Developing Counselling Skills for Health and SocialCare.
Unit 15 Psychology for Health and Social Care also has links with the National Occupational Standards in Health and Social Care. See Annexe B for mapping.