Psychology for Health and Social Care: A Comprehensive Report

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Psychology for Health and Social Care
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................4
1. Compare different psychological theories of lifespan development....................................4
2. Explain how psychological theories and concepts are related to specific life stages...........5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
1. Explain social and biological factors that influence human behavior..................................6
2. Analyze the importance of social roles in the context of health and social care settings.....8
LO3..................................................................................................................................................9
1. Analyze the application of psychological theories to individuals experiencing elevated
levels of stress..............................................................................................................................9
2. Analyze how psychological theories relate to behavior disturbance....................................9
3. Analyze how psychological theory informs understanding of mental health disorders.......9
4. Evaluate the application of psychological principles to affecting behavior change in health
and social care settings...............................................................................................................10
5. Analyze how psychological theories can enhance understanding of relationships in health
and social care............................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
Psychology refers to the study of the thought process, human behavior, and emotions. It helps to
maintain us and our relationships with people if applied in the correct way. Certain risks and set
of behaviors and beliefs are for illness and therefore the knowledge of public health is necessary.
Also, the knowledge of sociology is necessary to effectively apply psychology to social and
health care. The theory of psychology contributes a lot in social and health care. They help to
gain an understanding of the process of communication, appreciates the varying understanding
and requirements of the people. It informs the factors that can influence the lives of people and to
change their habits elated health like drinking, smoking, diet, etc. psychology applies the
intervention for health enhancement, quality, and well-being of life. There are several thoughts in
psychology. Some of them are cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, behavioral
psychology, psychodynamic psychology, social psychology, and many more.
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LO1
1. Compare different psychological theories of lifespan development
Development is the systematic change in an individual from the womb to the tomb. The entire
life is divided into many stages. These stages include parental period, infancy, preschool
period, middle child, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. To
understand these stages of life, many theories are developed.
The first theory is the theory of continuity and discontinuity. This discusses and focuses on
the changes in people over their lifespan (Krasnow and Delton, 2016). The theorist of
continuity says that the changes are continuous and occur in small steps. While the theorist of
discontinuity says that the changes in people are discontinuous and elevates.
The second theory is the psychoanalytic theory by Erikson: Neo-Freudian. He believes that
human undergoes eight changes form the time has born till his end of life. His main focus is
on overcoming the problems and the entire life. He believes that family and friends are
important as they play a significant role in resolving the conflicts (Lind, 2017).
The next theory is the cognitive-developmental theory in which the stages of life are divided
into 4 groups in which the person develops its cognitive thinking. The stages include the
sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operations stage, and the formal
operations stage. These theories claim that the changes in person arise between the changing
world and changing organism. It is the ongoing transaction between the environment and the
person. He believes that for guiding a person maturational and biological forces are necessary
(Littlewood, et. al., 2017).
2. Explain how psychological theories and concepts are related to specific life stages
Many theories were developed by the psychologists in recent years. Some of the important
theories are discussed below.
Psychosocial Development Psychology: this theory was given by Erik Erikson. He says that
the person’s behavior changes in a total of eight stages of the lifespan. This is the stage of
“trust vs. mistrust” which happens from birth till 1 year. The second stage happens between 1
year to 3 years of age. This stage is known as “autonomy vs. shame”. The third stage is the
stage of “initiative vs. guilt” which happens between 3 years to 6 years of age (Lucariello, et.
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al., 2016). The fourth stage is the “inferiority vs. competence” that happens between the age
period of 7 to 12. The fifth stage is the stage of “role confusion vs. identity” that takes place
within the age period of 13 to 18 years. The next stage is the “young adulthood” occurring in
19 to 40 age period. The seventh stage is the stage of “generativity vs.stagnation” which
occurs between the age period of 41 to 65. The last stage is the stage of “despair vs. Ego
integrity”. It takes place between the age period of 65 and above (Newman and Newman,
2017).
Cognitive development: this theory is given by Jean Piaget. He suggests that evolution in a
person passes on the simulation that is appropriated. Full potential cannot be achieved by an
individual without such a simulation. He also divided the life stages into various stages. These
stages include sensorimotor (between birth to 2 years), preoperational stage (between age
period of 2 to 7), concrete operational (from 7 to 12 years), and formal operational (from 12 to
adulthood,d). In different stages of life, a person develops a way of thinking cognitively.
Moral development theory: this theory of development was given by Lawrence Kohlberg. He
divided the stages of life in a way the person develops the ability of moral reasoning (Payne
and Isaacs, 2017). The first stage is the stage of “pre-conventional” and the second stage is
“conventional”.
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LO2
1. Explain social and biological factors that influence human behavior
The biological and social behavior of a person gives him the image in the society and also he
develops himself to what he is. Human responds to the stimuli on the basis of ancestral
behavior factors. There are several biological and social factors that are responsible for
influencing the behavior of the human (Vondracek, et. al., 2019). These factors are described
one by one below.
Biological factors:
 Self-preservation:
It’s a human tendency that a person struggles to attain a happy living and mind. It
includes the liveliness either psychologically or physically. For attaining the same, he
tries to fulfill the requirements of economic and mental.
 Reasons for elf-preservation:
The society is complex in which the human survives. He requires food for his hunger,
needs a shelter to live and to secure the life he became dependent on the economy
(Krasnow and Delton, 2016).
 Methods for self-preservation:
To fulfill the requirements of self-preservation, he needs to greed for each and
everything.
Social factors:
 Culture:
The behavior is the reflection of the person’s heritage. It is considered with eye
contact, greetings, social contact, and respect to others. A person’s life is affected at
the professional and personal level and is understood by its behavior.
 Education:
From the studies it was concluded that with the rise in economy, the rate of crime falls
down, the registration of the voters get high, and the health of people increases (Lind,
2017). All this concludes that education plays a significant role in bringing the
positivity in the behavior of a person.
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 Environment:
The person’s behavior is influenced by the people around and the environment rather
than genetics. Factors like communication gap, abusive language, disconnection from
friends and family, poverty, lack of discipline, etc. bring a negative impact on the
behavior of a person.
 Socioeconomic status:
This is the most concerned social factor because a person always feels pressure and
competition to achieve the best of life and comfort (Littlewood, et. al., 2017). For this,
the person feels so much stress and pressurized.
2. Analyze the importance of social roles in the context of health and social care
settings
The significance of social roles is given below in detail:
 Psychological health:
The psychological elements and environment of the person should be considered as
these are the elements that affect the person’s health. The environment should provide
peace and happiness.
 Infections:
Infections should be treated on time so can they can feel confident (Lucariello, et. al.,
2016).
 Self-behavior:
The behavior of the patient should be observed and considered. If the behavior of the
person is aggressive then he/she is likely to be anti-social.
 Testing self-esteem:
The self-esteem of the patient should be considered as it might be the issues that
he/she is lacking self-esteem or losing it (Newman and Newman, 2017).
 Caregiver attitude:
This type of person’s attitude should be considered and must see that he/she is not
experiencing any kind of harassment or molestation.
 Other ailments or diseases:
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There could be other problems that can affect the social and mental health of the
person. They might feel less in their own self because of the disease or the aliments
that he/she suffering from.
 The environment at school:
The environment of the school and college is the most important for the mental and
social health of the person (Payne and Isaacs, 2017). They should be treated well by
the teachers and co-workers.
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LO3
1. Analyze the application of psychological theories to individuals experiencing
elevated levels of stress
Stress in the person is due to tensions and sufferance in their lives. It affects the individual’s
life in many aspects such as health, well-being, and behavior. It depends on the person’s age
as the old person leads to stress because of health issues. Adolescents feel stressed because of
the peer pressure while adults feel pressurized and feel anxiety because of the tension towards
their career (Vondracek, et. al., 2019). A child who has suffered from sexual issues finds
difficulty in trusting people and also generates the issue of personality disorders with general
distress. They also find difficulty in focusing on the studies and activities that can hinder the
growth of the child mentally and physically. Parents divorcing also create a matter of tension
and due to this, they face anxiety, anti-social behavior and depression (Lind, 2017).
2. Analyze how psychological theories relate to behavior disturbance
The person’s behavior gets affected because of many factors and reasons. This lead to
affecting their performance and success in their aspects of life. The behavior shows the nature
of the person and how will they react in a social gathering. A person is not able to sustain the
society if the person cannot be satisfied by the things around. The behavior which is described
by several theorists states that in the environment their area functional disability and
subjective distress. Depression is the issue in which the person tends to suffer several
psychological changes in the behavior (Krasnow and Delton, 2016). The person feels stressed
when he realizes that he lacks skills that are required by him/her or by the environment to
perform some actions and to live in a society. Depressed people are the people who are
unhappy with the reinforcements given to them. Such people over-analyze themselves and
engage in the self-criticism. Many members of the family and friends sympathize the person
who is depressed and also feels pity for themselves. In the present modern era values,
expectation, attitudes, and other aspects are responsible for emotional matters.
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3. Analyze how psychological theory informs understanding of mental health
disorders
The psychological theories that understand mental disorders are:
 Trauma-related factors:
These factors result in physical and sexual abuse. Such disorder is a result of rape,
wars, and natural disasters that cause trauma to the brain. It can even lead to memory
loss (Newman and Newman, 2017).
 Psychodynamic theories:
Human is very conscious of the behavior by others towards them. This leads to the
creation of inner conflicts which results in the mental illness and leads to depression. It
also hinders the growth of the person in term of mental. The positive conversation with
mental patients helps a lot.
 Substance abuse:
The alcohol works as the depressant which increases the nutritional deficiencies and
mental disorder. Lack of thiamine and vitamin B results in the damage to the brain.
Drugs also play a role in affecting the mood, health, and behavior of a person
(Littlewood, et. al., 2017).
 Socio culture factors:
Anorexia nervosa, body dimorphic disorder, and bulimia nervosa are the social-
cultural factors that are responsible for creating mental disorders. This is because
people take their life and body for granted. People are making themselves slave by not
taking proper sleep, taking a load of extra work, overthinking and feeling, and many
more factors.
4. Evaluate the application of psychological principles to affecting behavior change
in health and social care settings
The psychological principle that impact the change in behavior in the setting of social and
health care are:
 Habits:
The habits of drinking, eating, sleeping, working, and thinking to influence life. These
habits promote the inflexibility of behavior and conserve high mental pressure. If the
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habits are good then it will lead to a positive life. The sector of social and health care
try to change the bad habits of the person into good ones (Payne and Isaac, 2017)
 Emotion:
The emotional status of the person can be identified by its body language. They are
made strong emotionally by care.
 Will:
The self-control and the willing power of the person keep him/her away from
negativity and they can focus on their objectives and goals. Social workers help to
spread the positivity among the patients and help them to attain the will power
(Lucariello, et. al., 2016).
5. Analyze how psychological theories can enhance understanding of relationships
in health and social care
Psychology is the study of the mental process and behavior of the person which can help the
social and health care sector to deal with the patients according to their requirements. This
helps them in treating the patient with the correct and suitable treatment. The patients with
mental disorders need extra attention and care which can be provided by the people who
have extreme knowledge about the psychological theories (Vondracek, et. al., 2019). The
workers observe the person’s psychological perspectives like psychodynamic, biological,
cognitive, humanistic, and behavioral. All the psychological theories and study help the
workers to treat them with the best possible treatment and understand them and their needs.
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Conclusion
From this report, it was concluded that the sector of social and health care is very important for
understanding the psychology of the patients and also for their well-being. This report has
discussed the psychological aspects of the person that can help the sector of social and health
care to treat the person or patients with mental disorder with suitable treatment. The stages of life
are discussed in which the psychology and thinking of the person change from birth to death. It
also gives detailed information regarding the changes and how they develop. The changes that
are good and beneficial for the person’s growth is elaborated. It has been also discussed that the
environment of the person is very important as it plays a vital role in the development of the
person. Many theories by several theorists are taken into account to understand the lifespan
development.
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