Health psychology theory research and practice 4th edition

Health Psychology - Case Study / Interventions

Assessment Task:

Case study/Interventions (3000 words – 50%)

Title: Evaluate two stress management/ coping / rehabilitation interventions.

Assignment Guidelines:

You may select any two stress management or coping interventions, they may be workplace based, school based, NHS based or focused on a specific case. (such as coping with infertility).

Consider the design of these interventions, who they are aimed at, the methods used, the outcomes, how they evaluate the outcomes and the relative strengths and weaknesses of these two interventions.

Cite the title / authors of the two interventions at the beginning.

Provide an introduction, setting the study in context. Set out the structure of your essay …. How are you going to approach this assignment? You need to provide some element of ‘contrast and compare’ of the two interventions selected. To this end, you should select interventions which have some element of similarity so that a comparison of method and outcomes would make sense.

You need to set these interventions in the context of other stress management interventions in the area you are investigating. How does your selected interventions compare with the general findings in this area?

How did the methods differ, what were the strengths and weaknesses of the two interventions, were the outcomes as expected and were they in line with findings of research in this area.

Do you think there was a useful contribution to knowedge?

Suggested reading for this assessment:

As you are selecting two published intervention studies, these will be the essential reading for this assignment. Do NOT select systematic reviews or any other review papers as your targeted intervention as reviews will not provide sufficiently detailed information about the intervention. Reviews are, however, useful for more background knowledge and information.

You will need to read around the topic so as well as the general stress and illness references and there are many sources available.

Some examples are:

Sin, J., Spain, D., Furuta, M. Murrells, T., &Norman, L. (2017) Psychological Interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in people with severe mental illness. Cochrane Database Systematic Review

Pires, G.E., Peuker, A.C., Castro, E.K., (2017) Brief Intervention for Stress Management and Change in Illness Perception among Hypertensive and Normotensive Workers: pilot study and protocol. Psychology: Research and Review ISSN: 1678-7153 (Online)

Lois E. Tetrick and Carolyn J. Winslow (2015) Workplace Stress Management Interventions and Health Promotion Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2:1, 583-603

Murphy S., Moore, G.F., Tapper, K., Lynch, R., Clarke, R., Raisanen, L., Desousa, C., and Moore, L. (2010) Free healthy breakfasts in primary schools: a cluster

randomised controlled trial of a policy intervention in Wales, UK Public Health Nutrition: 14(2), 219–226 doi:10.1017/S1368980010001886

These are just a few examples, there are many more that you can look at

Supporting psychological research should be reported using the APA system of referencing, in the main body of the essay and in an appropriate, full and detailed reference section at the end of the essay.

Essays/ Case Studies should be presented in Arial or Comic Sans font and 1.5 line spacing. Subsections should not be used within an academic essay.

Word count should be 3000 words + or minus 10%.

Additional Suggested Reading:

Anisman, Hyme (2014). An introduction to Stress and Health Sage.

Marks, Murray, Evans and Estacio (2014) 3rd Edition. Health Psychology. Theory, Research and Practice. Sage

Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K. & R. Glaser (1981). Stress and immune function in Humans. Elsevier.

Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., McGuire, L., Robles, T.F., & Glaser, R. (2002) Emotions, Morbidity and Mortality: New Perspectives from Psychneuroimmunology. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 83-107.

Ogden J. (2007) 4th Edition. Health Psychology a textbook. McGraw Hill.

Suzanne C. Segerstrom & Daryl B. O’Connor (2012) Stress, health and illness: Four challenges for the future, Psychology & Health, 27, 128-140, DOI: 10.1080/08870446.2012.659516