BSc Psychology

This course unit builds upon the topics introduced in First and Second Year; students will be expected to have some foundational knowledge in the area of Health Psychology and Wellbeing. Topics to be covered will include the role of illness and treatment beliefs in health care encounters, how different health problems raise particular challenges to patients and their healthcare workers, how medical and risk information are processed and how decisions are made. It will also examine ways of improving how health care professionals and patients interact. The course is an optional Final Year course unit for the BSc (Hons) Psychology. 

Building on previous knowledge (recommended PSYC21032 and PSYC21041), the unit aims to:

• Extend students’ health psychology understanding.
• Provide students with an understanding of a range of psychological aspects of communication within health care settings. These include understanding how health professionals and patients interact, what cognitive emotional and behavioural factors operate during these interactions, and the consequences these have for each party.
• Examine which forms of communication within health care encounters are measurable and amenable to intervention.
• Apply learning to a range of healthcare situations which are particularly challenging for health professionals, for example explaining causes for medically unexplained symptoms, discussing risk information and uncertain findings, working with families and young people, managing patients’ distress, talking about new medical technologies. 

The course unit comprises 10 topics plus a final revision week for a total of 11 weeks. Each week will comprise 1 x 2 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour seminar (involving discussions, activities and groupwork) and 1 x 1 hour reading group (looking at relevant papers). The teaching each week will all be (as far as feasible) delivered in person and led by the unit lead or another member of staff with expertise in the field. The reading groups will involve self-guided reading as preparation with a teaching assistant-facilitated in-person reading group (offering the opportunity to critique empirical papers through group work). E-learning provision: Lecture content, supplementary reading and resources, and a monitored discussion board will be provided via Canvas. There will be an additional seminar focused on support for the coursework. General and individual feedback will be provided on the coursework essay before the exam. 

• Identify the consequences for doctors and patients of different communication patterns
• Describe current theoretical perspectives on health care communication
• Outline the cognitive behavioural and emotional factors that impact on communication between health care professionals and patients
• Build sympathetic understanding of the communication challenges for patients and professionals that occur within healthcare settings
• Read and synthesise primary source journal articles reporting studies using a range of methodologies 

• Evaluate design and methodology in research papers
• Evaluate the effectiveness of a range of interventions to improve healthcare professional-patient interactions 

• Communicate effectively both orally and in writing to present concise and persuasive arguments
• Discuss empirical findings and solve problems in a small group context
• Use electronic resources such as library databases and online journals to search for appropriate literature 

See Assessment Methods

• Chisholm, A, Philee A, Peters S, Hart, J, Beenstock, J. (2019) Public health practitioners’ views of the ‘Making Every Contact Count’ initiative and standards for its evaluation. Journal of Public Health doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdy094
• Joyce E, Cowing J, Lazarus C, Smith C, Zenzuck V, Peters S. (2018) Training tomorrow’s doctors to explain ‘medically unexplained’ physical symptoms: an examination of medical educators’ views of barriers and solutions. Patient Education & Counselling 101(2018) 878–884
• Horne, R., & Weinman, J.A. (2002). Self-regulation and self-management in asthma: exploring the role of illness perceptions and treatment beliefs in explaining nonadherence to preventer medication. Psychology & Health, 17, 17-32.
• Ulph, F., Leong, J., Glazebrook, C. & Townsend, E. (2010). A qualitative study exploring genetic counsellors experiences of counselling children European Journal of Human Genetics, 18, 1090-1094