ABPP Clinical Health Psychology key terms

A framework holding that health and illness result from interacting biological, psychological, and social factors rather than any single cause. It guides assessment and treatment by requiring clinicians to consider all three levels simultaneously.

The idea that disorder emerges when a preexisting vulnerability (genetic, temperamental, or cognitive) is activated by environmental stressors. Neither vulnerability nor stress alone is sufficient; their interaction predicts outcomes.

The cumulative physiological wear produced by repeated or prolonged activation of stress-response systems. Measured through biomarkers such as cortisol, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers, it links chronic stress to disease risk.

A neuroendocrine feedback system in which the hypothalamus signals the pituitary, which prompts the adrenal glands to release cortisol. It regulates stress response and is dysregulated in chronic stress and depression.

The study of interactions among psychological processes, the nervous system, and immune function. It documents how stress, mood, and social factors alter immune responses such as wound healing and inflammation.

Actions people take that affect their health, including protective behaviors like exercise and screening and risk behaviors like smoking. Health psychology studies their determinants, measurement, and modification.

A stage-based account of behavior change moving through precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Interventions are matched to stage, with relapse treated as a normal part of cycling rather than failure.

A collaborative, person-centered counseling style that strengthens intrinsic motivation by exploring and resolving ambivalence. It uses open questions, reflective listening, and affirmation while avoiding confrontation and premature advice.

A person's confidence in their capacity to execute behaviors needed to reach a goal. It predicts initiation and persistence of health behaviors and is strengthened by mastery experiences, modeling, and verbal persuasion.

A structured approach teaching people to anticipate high-risk situations, identify early warning signs, and use coping strategies to avoid or limit return to a problem behavior. Lapses are reframed as learning opportunities.

Efforts that stop disease from developing in the first place, such as immunization, seat-belt laws, and tobacco taxation. It targets healthy populations before risk factors produce pathology.

Early detection and prompt treatment of disease while it is still asymptomatic or easily managed, such as cancer screening or hypertension case-finding. The goal is to halt progression and improve prognosis.

Rehabilitation and management that reduce disability and complications in people with established disease, such as cardiac rehabilitation or chronic pain programs. It aims to restore function and quality of life.

The consistency of scores across items, occasions, or raters, estimated through internal consistency, test-retest, and interrater coefficients. It sets an upper bound on validity and is essential when screening for clinical decisions.

The degree to which a measure assesses the construct it is intended to assess, supported by content, criterion, and construct evidence. Validity is a property of interpretations and uses, not of the instrument itself.

Sensitivity is the proportion of people with a condition correctly identified by a test; specificity is the proportion without it correctly identified. Both depend on the cutoff chosen and trade off against each other.

The probability that a person with a positive test result actually has the condition. Unlike sensitivity, it depends strongly on the base rate of the condition in the population screened.

A structured treatment targeting pain-related thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to reduce distress and disability. It combines cognitive restructuring, activity pacing, relaxation, and relapse prevention, with strong evidence for chronic pain.

The view that pain behaviors are shaped by their consequences, such as attention, sympathy, or relief from demands. Treatment therefore reinforces well behaviors and reduces inadvertent reinforcement of disability.

A treatment in which patients systematically approach feared activities in small, planned steps while fear subsides, reducing avoidance. Used for chronic pain, cardiac anxiety, and other fear-avoidance presentations.

An account of how catastrophic interpretations of pain or symptoms lead to fear, avoidance, disuse, and depression, worsening disability. It explains why some patients deteriorate despite low objective pathology.

A socially defined set of expectations for ill persons, including exemption from normal duties and an obligation to seek competent help and want to recover. It shapes how illness is perceived and enacted.

A patient's organized beliefs about a condition's identity, cause, timeline, consequences, and controllability. These beliefs guide coping and adherence and are targets for psychoeducation and cognitive intervention.

The extent to which a person's behavior matches agreed recommendations from a clinician, such as medication, diet, or exercise. It is influenced by regimen complexity, beliefs, side effects, and social support.

The daily tasks a person with a chronic condition performs to monitor symptoms, adhere to treatment, and maintain function and emotional well-being. Effective programs use education, problem-solving, and action planning.

A socially devalued attribute that discredits a person and leads to discrimination, secrecy, or avoidance. In health settings it can reduce help-seeking and worsen outcomes for conditions such as HIV or mental illness.

The capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information needed to make appropriate decisions. Low health literacy is associated with poorer adherence, more hospitalization, and worse self-management.

A clinician's ability to work effectively across cultural differences by understanding their own biases, learning about patients' backgrounds, and adapting communication and treatment. It is often paired with humility and structural awareness.

Systematic differences in health outcomes or care quality between population groups defined by race, ethnicity, income, geography, or other social factors. They are largely driven by structural and social determinants.

The conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, including income, housing, education, and neighborhood safety. They shape exposure to risk and access to care and drive health inequities.

The process of obtaining a patient's voluntary agreement to treatment or research after disclosing purpose, risks, benefits, alternatives, and the right to withdraw. It requires decision-making capacity and freedom from coercion.

The ethical and legal duty to protect information disclosed in a professional relationship from unauthorized release. It is bounded by exceptions such as imminent danger, abuse reporting, and court orders.

A U.S. federal law governing privacy and security of protected health information, including rules on permitted disclosures and patient rights. Health psychologists in medical settings must know its application to records and communication.

A patient's ability to understand relevant information, appreciate consequences, reason about options, and communicate a choice. It is task-specific and assessed clinically rather than assumed from diagnosis.

A model in which a psychologist advises medical teams on patient assessment, behavior management, and care planning, often for complex or high-risk cases. It emphasizes brief, team-oriented recommendations and follow-up.

Coordinated teamwork among professionals from different disciplines who share goals, roles, and decision-making for patient care. It improves outcomes in chronic disease and requires clear communication and role clarity.

A service model delivering the least intensive effective intervention first and escalating to more intensive care when needed. It matches resources to severity and is common in integrated primary care and behavioral health.

A relationship in which a more experienced clinician monitors and develops a supervisee's competence, ethics, and self-awareness. It includes evaluation, feedback, and attention to boundaries and legal responsibility.

Systematic collection of information to judge a program's implementation, outcomes, and value, using designs such as needs assessment and outcome monitoring. Findings guide improvement and decisions about continuation.