Health psychology according to doctors and psychologists: a psychosocial study

Abstract

The paper presents an exploratory research between nonpsychiatric doctors, concerning what they know about psychology and the health psychologists' performance. The theory of social representations is adopted as the main theoretical-methodological approach. The sample was composed of seven doctors with professional experience working alongside health psychologists; seven doctors with no experience working with health psychologists; and nine health psychologists. The research proposed to compare the two aforementioned groups of doctors, hypothesizing that there are differences on the knowledge of both groups and to also compare the medical group working with health psychologists to the group of health psychologists. Data was collected through open-ended questionnaires that were self-administered at the subjects' choice of time and location. The results were evaluated through an analysis of thematic content. Answers were evaluated separately and collectively using the qui-square test. Amongst the more significant findings of this study are: the lack of difference on the knowledge of both medical groups; the optimistic albeit superficial view that the doctors with experience working alongside health psychologists have of health psychologists; and the evidence that health psychologists believe that it is possible to build interprofessional relationships, although there are many obstacles to establishing such relationships.