How do I Integrate Psychology Into Home Health Care?

Integrating psychology into home care can help contribute to a value-based approach to providing quality care. Health psychology explores the strong link between mental health and physical health. Understanding how to integrate elements of psychology into home care may help individuals lessen recovery time and reduce assisted living dependency. Home care provides individuals with therapeutic treatment or assistance with daily living activities in the comfort of their homes. The intent is to help most individuals lessen their dependency on outside care over time and regain a sense of independence. Performed consistently, applied psychology benefits both the caregiver and the care recipient.

Instructions

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  Study basic psychology principles, especially the field of health psychology. Knowing the basic categories of psychology will help in applying it to daily activities.

• 2

  Review notes or handouts received during your home health care training. Most states have online home care curriculum information that can serve as a refresher course. If you are employed by a health care agency, check the agency's in-house educational sessions, such as in-services, for sessions on health psychology.

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  Study issues covered in health psychology as applied to daily living. An example is the use of exercise as part of treating certain illnesses. The daily living component is managing the illness, while exercise is the application of psychology to the issue. In general, encouraging exercise is a health psychology tool that is useful for improving overall health.

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  Create an implementation plan for your client by specifying, on the client's personal care plan, one to two tips from your psychology studies that you can incorporate when performing the tasks. For example, you could vary the sequence of nonessential care tasks to keep boredom at bay. Or take a client outside for sunshine and a stroll to help a client who may suffer from a seasonal affective disorder.

• 5

  Check with the client's health care decision maker about your intentions for incorporating new activities into the client's care plan. For client and caregiver safety, certain activities, such as encouraging exercise, should be approved by the person, or family member, in charge of making decisions with or for the home care client.

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