Introducing Psychology for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals

Dominic Upton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781317902478
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

What makes someone feel healthy? Why do some people respond differently under stress to others? Why dont people always follow nursing advice?

This second edition of Introducing Psychology for Nurses and Healthcare Professionals provides an accessible but thorough introduction to the key psychological theories and concepts which underpin nursing and healthcare, and clearly demonstrates how they can be applied in clinical practice. Using a research-led approach, each chapter guides you through important theories and topics in health psychology, such as lifespan and development, communication, and social processes, and helps you use your understanding to deliver better patient care.

Chapter 1

Introduction: psychology in nursing care

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this chapter you will be able to:

	Understand the development of psychology as a science
	Appreciate some of the schools of thought in psychology
	Appreciate the research methods in psychology
	Understand the social context for health and health psychology
	Understand the role of psychology in many aspects of life
	Appreciate the role of psychology in all aspects of health and illness from the cradle to the grave.

Your starting point

Answer the following questions to assess your knowledge and understanding of the relationship between psychology and nursing and the key terms and principles underlying psychology.

1.	By the 1920s a new definition of psychology had gained favour. Psychology was said to be the science of:
	(a)	mind
	(b)	consciousness
	(c)	computers
	(d)	behaviour
	(e)	philosophy?
2.	What is the independent variable, in experimental research:
	(a)	a variable which nobody controls or changes
	(b)	the variable which is manipulated in an experiment
	(c)	the variable which is measured, to see results of an experiment
	(d)	a variable which describes some durable characteristic of the subject
	(e)	a variable which is held steady?
3.	Cartesian dualism specifies that:
	(a)	The body can interact with the mind via the pineal gland.
	(b)	The mind can interact with the body via the pineal gland.
	(c)	The mind and the body do not interact at all.
	(d)	Both (a) and (b).
	(e)	Neither (a) nor (b).
4.	According to many, who was the founder of modern day psychology and first ‘psychologist’:
	(a)	Wundt
	(b)	Fechner
	(c)	Weber
	(d)	Helmholtz
	(e)	none of the above?
5.	Which of the following schools of thought would be most likely to reject the method of introspection to study human experience:
	(a)	behaviourism
	(b)	psychoanalysis
	(c)	structuralism
	(d)	functionalism
	(e)	none of the above?

1.1 Introduction

Being a nurse is all about medicine and nursing practice, isn’t it? It is all about biochemistry, physiology and anatomy? As a nurse you need to understand the patient’s medical and nursing history, you need to understand their diagnosis and their treatment, you need to understand what is going on, inside the brain, the liver, the kidneys, the heart and so on. However, a human being is more than the sum of bodily parts (see Figure 1.1) and this has an important consequence for your nursing practice and the importance of psychology in healthcare.

Figure 1.1 The human being is more than a sum of its parts

It could be argued, of course, that your individual patient is not that concerned about their body parts – what they want is to get better in the shortest and most painless manner. They want to be treated with respect and dignity, they want to be involved in their care and they want the nurse to act in a thoroughly professional manner. All of these have a psychological element.

Key message

Humans are more than a collection of organs.

The patient also wants to know what caused their illness – is there something that can be done about it, and if so, what? How can they prevent it from occurring again and how can they be included in their care? Again, all of these have a psychological element.

Key message

Psychology is the most important subject you will study.

We must also appreciate t...