PART I. FOUNDATIONS OF HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

Why This Is Important

Welcome to the foundation of your journey into health psychology! Before we can explore how people cope with illness or change their health behaviors, we have to answer a fundamental question: What does it actually mean to be “healthy”? In this first part of the course, we will challenge the traditional view that health is merely the absence of disease. Instead, you will learn to look at well-being through a dynamic biopsychocultural lens—exploring how our biological systems, psychological experiences, and diverse cultural identities all intersect.

Here is why the next four topics are critical to your training:

  • Redefining Health & Gender Diversity (Topic 1): You will explore how different cultures define wellness and why cultural competence is vital for modern healthcare. We will specifically look at how socio-cultural factors uniquely impact the health outcomes and experiences of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals.

  • The Tools of the Science (Topic 2): To think like a health psychologist, you need to understand how we gather evidence. We will look at research designs, data, and the crucial ethics involved in conducting research across diverse, multicultural populations.

  • Pluralistic Healing Traditions (Topic 3): Western biomedicine is just one way of looking at the human body. We will journey through world medicine traditions—including Traditional Indian Medicine, Curanderismo, and American Indian medicine—to understand how diverse belief systems shape how people recognize symptoms and seek treatment.

  • The Biological Blueprint (Topic 4): Your mind and body are in a constant, bidirectional conversation. We will review essential human anatomy—including your nervous, endocrine, cardiovascular, and immune systems—and discover how deeply our cultural and environmental experiences literally get under our skin to alter our physiology.

By laying this groundwork, you will develop the critical thinking skills needed to understand health disparities and advocate for more equitable, culturally competent care.