Future Challenges

World leader in years of healthy life  Not U.S.  U.S. is the lowest of industrialized countries providing good health care  Who?  Japan

Barrier to the expansion of health psychology  Costs of the services

Increasing medical costs  Costs = greatest challenge facing health care  Life expectance will increase  People dying of chronic illness will increase  Illness among old people will continue to increase  Contributes most to health care cost

Factors increasing medical costs  High-tech medicine  Increasing medical specialists  Administrative costs  Profit motive

Higher educational levels live longer  Smoke less  Higher health literacy  Greater access to health care.

Prevention  Primary prevention  Annual health checkup  Immunizing people against the flu (influenza)  Secondary prevention  Screening people for risk  Find potential problems  E.g Asking about smoking

Understanding risks to young  Deaths among the young (E.g. college students)  Behaviors producing unintentional injuries  Automobile crashes  Failure to wear seat belts  5X more likely to be injured  Texting  Partner violence  Suicide

Challenges for healthier people Increasing the span of healthy life Not life expectancy Reduce health disparities Social and economic factors Age, income, education, ethnicity, occupation

Adopt a healthy lifestyle  Don’t smoke  Don’t drink (or in moderation)  Regular exercise  Maintain a healthy weight  Get 7-8 hours of sleep

Health Psychologists can help by  Changing unhealthy behaviors  Prevention to reduce health costs  Switch from hospital based care to prevention, home and electronic monitoring, and self care.

Factors encouraging the growth of Health Psychology  Equality between mental and physical health  More holistic view of health  Increased focus on behavioral factors

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