PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH CARE - 2026/7

Module Overview

This module covers psychological factors that influence the patient's passage through the health care system from symptom perception to help seeking to the consultation with a focus on specific aspects of health care such as surgery and vaccinations. This module has been designed in accordance with requirements (stage 1) of the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology accreditation criteria. This module addresses the following curriculum areas for a British Psychological Society accredited Health Psychology Masters degree: contexts and perspectives in health psychology, client groups and other stakeholders, health-related behaviour and cognitions, interventions, measurement issues and healthcare and professional settings. This module will help students to better understand how health psychology theory can help us understand the patient experience of healthcare.

Module provider

Psychology

Module Leader

LALLY Phillippa (Psychology)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes: Help seeking behaviour, adherence to treatment, doctor-patient communication, vaccinations, surgery, and health inequalities.Weekly lectures/seminars will cover key components of the passage through the health care system. During half of the semester students will have the opportunity to prepare for their mid-semester individual presentations, through groups discussions and group presentations. Presentation assessment sessions will take place when students will present their account of one person¿s experience of the healthcare system and how this relates to psychological theories and research evidence. During the second half of the semester seminar sessions will take students through the process of completing a grant application for research funding, preparing them to complete the mock grant application assignment. 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

If, due to extenuating circumstances, a student is unable to present on the set assignment date, they will be required to present at a later date agreed with the module lead.If a student has reasonable adjustments in place that mean they are unable to present in-person they can record themselves giving the presentation and upload this in addition to their slides. 

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

• a thorough understanding and critical appraisal of key theories and evidence in understanding the role of patient beliefs in the health care experience, 
• that they can apply health psychology theory and evidence to understand an individual¿s experience. 
• that they can use these critical analysis skills to make a persuasive argument for further research, 
• that they can design a research study and complete a fictional funding application to conduct this research. 

Thus, the summative assessments for this module consist of a presentation and a mock grant application. The presentation addresses learning outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 4. Students upload their slides to Surreylearn but give the presentation in person. The module convenor will go over the assignment brief with the students early in the semester and will explain the marking criteria. They will support the students to prepare interview questions in preparation for their assessment.  Alternative assessment If, due to extenuating circumstances, a student is unable to present on the set assignment date, they will be required to present at a later date agreed with the module lead. If a student has reasonable adjustments in place that mean they are unable to present live they can record themselves giving the presentation and upload this in addition to their slides. The mock grant application addresses learning outcomes 1,2,4,5 and 6. The module convenor will go over the assignment brief with the students  and will explain the marking criteria.  Seminar time is dedicated to working through the key components of a grant application (e.g. study design, building a team, budget, timelines) to support students with this assignment.Formative assessment: During teaching sessions students will participate in group discussions and practice presentations focusing on critical thinking to identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. During teaching sessions students will be given the opportunity to begin drafting parts of their mock grant application and feedback will be provided on these. Detailed written feedback is provided by the module convenor on the mock grant application assignment. The presentations are marked by the academic team and the scores provided across the marking criteria are provided to students, alongside brief comments.

Module aims

• To provide an understanding and awareness of the psychological issues that influence a patient's passage through the healthcare system. This includes help seeking behaviour, communication in health care settings, surgery, adherence, vaccinations and broader constructs such as the role of the healthcare environment and health inequalities.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is as follows: Each week, students will attend a teaching session where approximately half the time will be spent with the lecturer conveying core content and signposting towards further reading. The remaining time will be used either for students to present their critical analysis of a topical paper, in groups, and for a wider group discussion, or for discussion of preparing a grant application. The learning and teaching methods include: Teaching sessions (combination lecture and seminar) Captured content (recordings of teaching sessions and/or separate recordings summarising the content) Independent learning 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: PSYM006

Other information

In line with Surrey¿s Curriculum Framework, we are committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module contributes to the five pillars in the following ways: 

 

Employability (E) 

This module supports the students¿ employability skills as it will teach students how to take psychological theory and research and use this to understand the patients¿ pathway through the health care system.  This is key to any health care role in either primary or secondary care.  They will also have to present an oral presentation of their analysis of one individual¿s experience of the health care system.  Presentation skills are key to pretty much all careers.  Being able to use research evidence to present a convincing case in a grant application or a business case is crucial in many careers. The mock grant application will build these skills. 

 

Digital capabilities (D) 

Students will need to engage with several elements of digital skills during the course; they will utilize the university of Surrey Virtual Learning Environment (SurreyLearn) to access the course materials and key content; they will become competent in a presentation package to develop their presentation; they will need to use on-line search engines to research academic journal articles for their assignments.  

 

Global and cultural capabilities (G) 

One of the key global challenges is an ageing population and how to manage the increase in comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes, dementia and cancer that come with living longer.  This module will teach students about the role of psychology in patient care and the factors that influence a patient¿s experience of the health care system.  

 

Resourcefulness and resilience (R) 

This module will provide several opportunities to develop resourcefulness and resilience and the assessment will play an important role in this pillar. Students can be fearful of oral presentations.  This module will support the to build their confidence as presenters and will give them plenty of practice and feedback throughout the module as they present in groups before the presentation assessment.  

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.