Understanding Psychology for Health and Social Care

Psychology for Health and
Social Care
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 UNDERSTAND PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH, DISABILITY, ILLNESS AND
BEHAVIOUR..................................................................................................................................3
1. The different theories of life span development......................................................................3
2. How psychological theories and concepts are related to the specific life stages.....................5
TASK 2 UNDERSTAND SOCIAL AND BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOUR DISPLAYED IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE CONTEXTS..........................6
1. Social and biological factor that influence human behaviour..................................................6
2. The importance of the social roles in the context of health and social care setting.................7
TASK 3 UNDERSTAND HOW PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES ARE APPLIED TO
HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PRACTICE ...............................................................................8
1. How psychological theories are related to behaviour disturbances.........................................8
2. Application of psychological theories to individual experiencing elevated levels of stress. . .8
3. How psychology theory inform understanding of mental health disorder..............................9
4. Application of principles to affecting behaviour change in health and social care setting.....9
5. Analyse how psychological theories can enhance understanding of relationship in HSC .....9
TASK 4 SELF EVALUATION.....................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
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INTRODUCTION
Psychology is defined as study of understanding individual mind and behaviour.
Therefore, within health and social care (HSC) setting it is necessary for the care worker to
understand the behaviour as well as emotions of patients and services users so that they can
render proper services to them (Sherbourne and et.al., 2014). However, understanding
psychology of patient is an essential factor which assists the care worker in rendering quality
treatment. Furthermore, understanding psychology of patients also result support them in
interacting with them. Presently, the report focuses on different theories of lifespan development
as care worker within HSC should emphasize on different patients at different life stages.
Furthermore, it will also stress on the social as well as biological determinants of human
behaviour displayed in HSC contexts. Lastly, the report will concentrate on how psychological
theories are being applied within the HSC practices.
TASK 1 UNDERSTAND PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH, DISABILITY,
ILLNESS AND BEHAVIOUR
1. The different theories of life span development
Life span development is defined as the study that generally focuses on constant
changing behaviour of the individual from the birth throughout their life time. Therefore, this
approach focuses on development of human at various phase of their life-cycle (Schwarzer,
2014). While, rendering services in different HSC organization with care worker has identified
that there are six stages of individual from the birth through their final stage of life. The different
stages of lifespan development are-
Stages of life span
development
Characteristics
Infancy The first stage in the life span development of an individual is
infancy. The child from birth to the two year is regarded as an
infant. During this stage, infants are highly dependent on their
parents for all the things (Santrock, Baxter and Oatis, 2015).
Childhood Another stage in life span development is childhood that exists
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from two years to ten years. At this phase, children become
progressively self-directed from their parents. They prefer to do
activity and work by their own that further assists them in
gaining knowledge regarding what is right and wrong
(Santrock, 2014).
Adolescence Another stage after childhood is adolescence age which is from
ten to twenty years. Under this stage, individual seeks to gain
independence from their parents and thus they focus on
processing their own identity.
Early Adulthood Another stage of life span development features the individual
from the age group of twenty to forty years. In this stage,
individual establish personal relationship and also begin their
family (Neisser, 2014).
Middle age This stage covers individual who are in the age group of forty
to sixty. At this stage, individual generally grow their personal
as well as social involvement that support them in gaining
maturity.
Older age Last stage in life span development include old age that covers
people who have attained the age group of sixty five and plus.
In this, the individual constantly change their behavior as they
require a care taker that may look after their activities
(Enthoven, 2014). In order to render medical services to older
age people, care worker need to understand their behavior and
then provide them with adequate services.
There are different theories that are related with the life span development of patients that
is stage versus open-ended theories of life span development. Stage theory generally focuses that
all individual are processed and developed through series of same phases from the birth to death.
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