Master in Health & Medical Psychology
Prof. Andrea Evers
Chair Health, Medical & Neuropsychology unit [email protected]
Dr. Veronica Janssen Assistant professor Health Psychology Medical psychologist LUMC [email protected]
Katja Cardol MSc Alumnus Health psychology
Health & Medical Psychology: a Brief Introduction
"Sometimes it seems like in this era, the more people stage their ideal life on social media, the more that serves to hide a not-so-ideal reality."
Helping People Help Themselves
Are you interested in…
•Empowerment: ‘what someone can do’
•Building bridges between science and clinical practice
•Preventing disease and promoting health
•Coping with chronic disease
•The interplay between body and mind
Characteristics Health and Medical Psychology •Focus on prevention, health and disease
•Interest in positive psychology and empowerment
•Mind – Body interaction
•Innovations in healthcare, education and research
•Interdisciplinary focus
•Clinical orientation
Health and Medical Psychology eHealth & self-
management
Stress & disease
Prevention & health promotion
Body & Mind
Focus on capacity & empowerment
Chronic disease
Health and Medical Psychology
Future of the health/ medical psychologist?
•Focus on themes with societal relevance
•Broad clinical, commercial and scientific orientation
•Experience has shown that all alumni find a job in their discipline
Perspectives health and medical
psychologists
1. Prevention and health promotion
2. Diagnosis and treatment (therapy)
3. Scientific research
4. Coaching, training
5. Healthcare policy and innovation n
Professional perspectives
Primary prevention & training
• Municipal and national health care organizations (e.g. Voorlichtingsburo
Voeding, Trimbos, Hersenstichting, Hartstichting, Astma Fonds, etc.)
• Companies
Research
• Universities and research institutes (TNO, Nivel, etc.)
Policy
• Local or federal government
• Developmental aid organizations (e.g WHO)
Professional perspectives
Health care
• Primary health care (adults, children)
• Private practice
• Secondary health care: GGZ, hospitals,
rehabilitation centers, medical centers
• Medical psychology department hospital
• Entry to post-graduate clinical training (e.g., GZ-opleiding)
• Coaching
MSc Program Health and Medical Psychology
• Mandatory courses 20 ec
• Electives 10 / 0 ec
• Internship 10 / 20 ec *
• Thesis 20 ec
• incl. Organisational, ethical & legal aspects of health care
• ‘Basis Aantekening Psychodiagnostiek’ (BAPD) may be possible
Topics of Health Psychology in Leiden
• Complex interplay neurobiological, psychological & social factors
• Prevention and changing lifestyles
• Coping with stress and impact on health
• Interventions focused on dealing with chronic illness
• Clinical health psychology skills
Health psychology programma (start Sept)September October November December January February March April May June
36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Standard programme
BTS (5) CBI (5)
HPDP (5) PAICD (5)
Thesis (20) Internship (20)
Alternative programme with a 10 ect internship
Elective E-health (5)
BTS (5) CBI (5) Elective HPiP (5)
HPDP (5) PAICD (5) Internship (10)
Thesis (20)
Health and Medical Psychology Master programme
February March April May June July August September October November DecemberJanuary
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 1 2 3 4 5
Mandatory courses
BTS (5) CBI (5) HPDP (5) PAICD (5)
Thesis (20)
Possible
Elective HPiP (5)
Internship (10)
Internship (20)
Health psychology Master programme (Start Feb)
Possible elective E-
health (5)
You are a health psychologist working for the government. You have been asked to develop a
prevention program for binge-drinking:
Imagine this….
Case Example: Binge drinking • Binge-drinking in adolescents is a huge problem
• The legal drinking age in the Netherlands has been raised to
18
• Adolescents now go on ‘drinking-holidays’ to Belgium (e.g.
Knokke)
• The government wants to develop an intervention program
to prevent binge-drinking holidays
How would you go about this ?
• 1x yearly
• 4 two-hour lectures:
recent insights into theory- and evidence-based health promotion
systematic approach to design and implementation of effective interventions
• 7 three-hour workgroups:
designing an intervention aimed at improving health.
implementing and evaluating part of the intervention in a real-life situation
(Healthy Faculty Days)
Health promotion & disease prevention
Health promotion & disease prevention
You are a medical psychologist working for a rehabilitation center.
You have been asked to:
Imagine this….
• Many patiens in rehabilitation suffer from (chronic) pain
• This interferes with treatment and affects quality of life
• The rehabilitation center has asked you to:
• Develop a routine screening system to detect these patients
• Develop an evidence-based intervention to treat these patients
Case Example: Pain Management
How would you go about this ?
Psychological assessment and interventions in chronic disease
• 1x yearly
• 7 two-hour lectures:
• epidemiology of, and psychosocial problems associated with a variety of chronic
diseases.
• disease-specific psychosocial intervention programs for quality of life and self-
management.
• 7 three-hour workgroups:
• Training in using different assessment instruments.
• Training in using specific intervention strategies in patients with chronic disease.
You are a medical psychologist working at the medical psychology department of a large hospital.
The following patient is referred to you:
Imagine this….
Case Study ‘Yasmin’
• 23-year old woman, suffers from Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 (DM)
• Iraqi refugee, residence permit, works as shopassistent
• Depressed mood, “bad” boyfriends, badly regulated DM
• Wants to take better care of herself and regulate her blood glucose
• Problem: frequently fails to show up for psychotherapy sessions
• Demands instant appointments and cries a lot during sessions
How would you help this patient?
Basic therapeutic skills
• 2x yearly
• 4 two-hour lectures:
• requirements that ensure that patients can benefit from a therapeutic relationship.
• 14 four-hour workgroups:
• training in basic therapeutic skills, such as building the psychotherapeutic relationship,
establishing rapport, handling resistance, reflective listening etc.
• Mini-therapy sessions
Case Study ‘George’
• 45-year old man, experienced a heart attack
• Married, two children, works as an airplane controller
• High levels of anxiety, in particular:
• Very scared of getting a heart attack
• Fear of confined spaces (buses, trains, lifts, tunnels, theatres, cinemas etc.)
• Fear of helicopter/meteorite crashes
• Avoids confined spaces and travelling by public transport
• Avoids physical exercise
• Would like to live a more anxiety-free life
How would you treat this patient using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
Cognitive-behavioral interventions
• 2x yearly
• 7 two-hour lectures:
• general aspects of cognitive-behavior therapy.
• specific interventions for different psychopathologies.
• 7 three-hour and 7 four-hour workgroups:
• training in basic cognitive-behavioral interventions, such as case formulation, exposure, cognitive
restructuring and relapse prevention.
• Mini-therapy sessions: applying these interventions as an apprentice therapist to one of
the fellow students.
Master research & thesis
• Thesis-information-meeting (October/February).
• A list of topics; you can indicate your topic of interest.
• Placement and contact with supervisor.
• There are two deadlines:
• handing in the research proposal (incl. oral presentation)
• the final date for the thesis (incl. poster presentation).
Internship
• Internship-info-meeting (October and February).
• Start (preferably) an internship after completion courses and thesis research activities.
• Finding a place: Find a setting that fulfills the criteria, check with the coordinator, apply,
determine tasks, get final permission from coordinator, sign contract, send contract to
coordinator.
• Clinical practice internship: 20 ec (including diagnosis and treatment of pts). For example:
• Medical psychology department hospital or rehabilitation center
• Practice or Research internship (10 ec) For example:
• GGD health promotion
• TNO research
• Trainers Course Communication Skills (10ec EL)and teach the 2nd year IBV course (10 ec Internship).
Electives
Doing the MSc in 1 year requires good planning, but is certainly feasible.
Electives if time allows it:
• List of electives in e-guide (from own & other specialisations).
• Electives from specialisations within psychology.
• Health Psychology in Practice is recommended.
• Innovations in eHealth care is recommended.
Post-master programs • Health care psychologist (e.g., GZ-opleiding)
• Specific therapy-training programs (e.g., Cognitive-behavioral therapy)
• PhD-study
• These are eligible for all students who have completed a Master in Clinical, Health, Child and Adolescent or Clinical Neuropsychology!
• Note: some additional requirements (e.g. re internship) and high competition!
Why would you choose Leiden MSc Health & Medical Psychology? • Only 1-year professional Master in NL where health promotion and coping with chronic illness are offered in combination
• Strong link theory –practice • International focus
• Small group (approx 50 students a year), close contacts, a lot of student-
staff interaction
• Keeping all options open: access to post-graduate training programs (e.g., GZ-opleiding, VGCt CGT opleiding etc.) if requirements are fulfilled
What is the Difference between Health & Medical Psychology and…???
Questions??
Prof. Andrea Evers [email protected] Dr. Veronica Janssen [email protected] Dr. Chris Verhoeven [email protected]
Please also take the opportunity to ask your personal question(s) in the ‘meet and greet’ and the information market after this session.