Application of Psychological Perspectives to Health and Social Care Practice – Level 3 Health and Social Care BTEC Revision

Understanding psychological perspectives greatly influences effective service delivery in health and social care. By grasping these perspectives, care providers can cater to individuals’ mental, emotional, and physical needs.
The Behaviourist Perspective: Care providers can use principles of this perspective to help manage individuals’ actions. For example, positive reinforcement could motivate a person to take prescribed medication regularly.
The Psychodynamic Perspective: This perspective offers insight into unconscious motivations and past experiences that can affect behaviour. Therapies like psychoanalysis can be used to uncover these unconscious elements and help service users deal with unresolved issues.
The Humanist Perspective: This perspective emphasises empathy and understanding the service user’s personal experience. It promotes patient-centred care, where treatment plans are personalised to cater to each individual’s unique situation.
Cognitive Perspective: The understanding that our thoughts control our behaviour greatly impacts patient treatment. Cognitive therapy can help service users manage disorders like anxiety and depression by helping them alter negative thought patterns.
Biological Perspective: This perspective allows health and social care providers to recognise the impact of genetic and biological factors on a person’s health and behaviour. It can help in diagnosing and treating mental illnesses which may be caused by genetic or chemical imbalances.
The Socio-Cultural Perspective: This perspective highlights the important role society and culture can play in shaping our behaviour. By understanding this, service providers can provide culturally sensitive care.
The Learning Perspective: Knowledge of how individuals learn can enable providers to create tailored care plans. This perspective also emphasises the role of the environment, observation, and modelling in shaping behaviour.
The Psychosocial Perspective: This perspective considers the impact of both psychological and social factors on an individual’s wellbeing. This dual consideration can be vital in creating comprehensive care plans.
Understanding of these perspectives also aids in forming effective communication strategies. Each perspective can give insight into different communication methods, which can be adapted to suit a service user’s needs.
Lastly, these psychological perspectives can help in community health planning by providing strategies for prevention programmes and social marketing campaigns. This supports the overall improvement of health and wellbeing in society.