Health Psychology; A step towards understanding tie situation of the field it Turkey

Abstract

Although it is generally not recognized, 'health psychology' is the field within which many psychologists in Turkey work. The aim of this article is to assess the situation of health psychology in Turkey, and to provide a basis for future studies of a more comprehensive nature. In line with this aim,priority was given to exploring the perceptions of psychologists regarding health psychology, and to identifying training, research and applications in this area. In the first section, there is a brief summary of the background of the development of the field of health psychology in the world. Next, there is a description of the findings of two field studies conducted first in 1993 and then in 2004 with 141 psychologists in health settings in Istanbul. The last section provides a summary of the findings of a study done over the Internet; included here are the ideas of psychologists working in the area of health psychology as well as relevant applications. The article ends with some suggestions.