The Health Psychology Emphasis Area aims to further advance students’ knowledge of the mind-body relationship, as well as culturally and developmentally appropriate intervention strategies for assisting clients across the lifespan in gaining or restoring well-being. Students will achieve the core competencies needed to function and thrive in medical settings and/or with clients/patients who have physical disease processes to manage concurrently with mental health concerns

Learn More About Health Psychology

Mission

Building on our strong generalist training across the lifespan, the mission of the Health Psychology Emphasis Area of the PsyD Program at Spalding is to develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to work in medical settings on interdisciplinary teams, and/or to be able to address the psychological aspects of many physical illnesses that either perpetuate or exacerbate symptomatology. Students receive advanced training emphasizing integrated primary care, pediatric interventions, and behavioral medicine (covering such topics as pain, smoking, diabetes, sleep). Students also contribute to the advancement of health psychology with dissertations that are designed by and unique to them, about the aspects of mind-body medicine they find most meaningful to study.

Courses

• 840 Health EA 1: Health Psychology and Behavior Medicine
• 845 Health EA 2: Advanced Clinical Health Psychology
• 607 Health EA 3: Integrated Primary Care
• 846 Health EA 4: Pediatric Psychology

Practica and Internships

Practicum placements include, but are not limited to, community mental health centers, private practices, Veteran’s Administration and other hospitals, including pediatric hospitals, and specialty outpatient clinics. This emphasis area also aims to develop students’ professional identity through strong supervision, mentoring, and modeling of scholar-practitioner values and interdisciplinary practices.

Students will be well prepared for a diverse array of possibilities for internship, including the very competitive adult and pediatric hospital-based sites.  Many sites have health psychology rotations, however, so students’ options are not narrowed to medical settings. Students in Health Psychology will have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to be successful as interns, postdoctoral fellows, and private practitioners.

Program Sheet
Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology: Health Psychology