| The Scope of Health Psychology(Marks et al, 2008) |
| Although health psychology developed relatively recently as a formal sub discipline, there are four sub areas into which it could be categorized on the basis of scale or unit of analyses. Clinical Health Psychology is focused on the individual whereas public and community health psychology focus on larger groups and critical health psychology focuses on macro structural factors. |
| Clinical Health Psychology |
| Seeks to understand health outcomes and the quality of life from a psychological perspective. An example of the work in this area would be understanding the impact of stress on blood pressure or developing an intervention for smoking cessation and running randomized controlled trials. It is the most well established of the four approaches and the most rigorous in terms of methodology. |
| Public Health Psychology |
Is concerned with the general population especially vulnerable groups and health policy and how it gets translated and its impact on health outcomes – evaluates its impact. It is multidisciplinary and draws from epidemiology as well as psychology. The typical methods are large scale surveys. |
| Community Health Psychology |
The focus is on social change and the research methods are participative research and action research. The link between the community and individuals is emphasized and the aim is to improve or develop the community. |
| Critical Health Psychology |
Is concerned with larger influences such as power, economics and social institutions on health and health care. It aims to analyze the assumptions and discourse in the field of health of researchers and health professionals and policy makers. |
