Skip to search boxSkip to navigationSkip to main content

History of health psychology

  • Robert Gordon University
Research Output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding Chapter Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of the history of health psychology, covering the development of the discipline across a number of countries, including the United States of America (USA), Europe, the United Kingdom (UK), Japan, Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It takes a look at the key influences on its development, changes to job opportunities, discussions on the need for training models to accommodate standardised skill sets, core journals and books that were published to assist knowledge transfer of this new discipline, and how the growth in countries where health psychology is well-established such as the UK, differ from less developed countries. It includes extracts from interviews with 53 Health Psychologists (mainly trained in the UK) as part of the Royal Society–funded Oral History of Health Psychology (OHHP) in the UK Project (funded 2016–2018), many of whom were involved in European and international developments. New oral testimony from this project, interviewed by the authors, is presented in this chapter for the first time, highlighted by the date on which people were interviewed as part of this historical work. The chapter concludes with practical tips to ensure that history continues to be able to be captured in the future on an international platform through good documentation at annual meetings and as part of professional network events, conferences, and peer-reviewed journals.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding Chapter Peer-review

Host publication Subtitle

Global and Contemporary Issues

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 3-21 (19 pages)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 29/01/2025

Publication status

Published - 29/01/2025

Publisher

Routledge, United States, United Kingdom

ISBN (Print)

9781032330648

ISBN (Electronic)

9781040117699

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/626532
  • Scopus: 85214535946

Host publication title

The Routledge International Handbook of Health Psychology

Host publication editors

  • Robbert Sanderman
  • Karen Morgan

Access to documents

Publication metrics

Metrics

Download statistics
Download count
2