The teaching of psychology on health professional courses

Abstract

AbstractPsychology is taught on a range of vocational courses including such training for professions as nurses, medics, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and other health care professionals. However, what is uncertain is what psychology is taught, who it is taught by and how it is taught. This project aims to address these unresolved questions by surveying course leaders’ perspectives on the teaching of psychology within health professional courses. A total of 103 responses to a specially designed questionnaire were received from 300 courses across the United Kingdom. The results of the survey revealed a number of interesting findings. For example, the development, teaching and examination of psychology on health care professional courses is not always undertaken by qualified psychologists. The most commonly taught areas of psychology included health, social and developmental psychology and business and educational psychology the least. Psychology is a small component (less than 5 per cent) of the majority of health professional courses and this low level is considered appropriate. This being said, course leaders consider psychology important for a health professional’s future career. On the basis of these results it is suggested that psychologists needs to develop and promote the psychology provision within health professional courses and develop strategies on how best psychology can be taught and assessed within an integrated health professional course.