Course description

Social relationships are integral to health behaviour and outcomes. People who are more socially connected generally live longer and are healthier than those who are socially isolated. The science shows that social ties are at least as good for your health as not smoking, having a good diet and taking regular exercise. To date, however, researchers and practitioners have understood the impact of social life on health far less well than other psychological and physical factors. As a result it has proved difficult to harness the power of social processes to promote positive health outcomes. HLTH3132 addresses this issue and will assist you to (1) understand existing psychological theory and management of conditions typically encountered in health psychology and (2) extend your knowledge of these current approaches through application of a new social identity approach to health from which to understand and manage social influences on health behaviour and outcomes. This course will challenge you to critically evaluate both our current understanding of health and its extension in the social identity approach to health to provide a more holistic understanding of psychological health and its management.

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