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| NATIONAL DELEGATE
Lisa Warner
Freie Universität Berlin
Habelschwerdter Allee 45
14195 Berlin (Germany)
tel.: +49 30 838 55179
e-mail: lisa.warner@fu-berlin.de
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Germany hosted 2 EHPS Conferences, in Trier (1988) and in Leipzig (1992).
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National associations
The section of Health Psychology in the German Psychological Society currently has 211 academic members. In 2009, a new board of governors was elected with Britta Renner (University of Konstanz) as speaker, Christel Salewsik (University of Applied Sciences Madgeburg-Stendal) as co-speaker and Andreas Schwerdtfeger (University of Mainz) as treasurer. The section coordinates most activities in the domains of Health Psychology in Germany, among them educational issues, bi-annual Health Psychology conventions and a Journal (Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie). The section meets annually, once at the bi-annual Health Psychology conventions, once at the bi-annual National Psychology Conventions. The section of Health Psychology is closely interwoven with the EHPS, as many of its members are also members of the EHPS.
Conventions
The section of Health Psychology hosts a bi-annual convention. The 2009 convention (9. Kongress für Gesundheitspsychologie) was held at the University of Zurich. In terms of scientific contributions, 170 abstracts were accepted, and about 150 delegates were present. Keynote speakers included Toni Antonucci, Alexander Grob and Karen S. Rook. Preconference workshops covered stress in intercultural settings, coping with stress at the workplace, staying healthy with salutogenesis, a publishing workshop, multi-sample structural equation modeling and psychotherapy in old age. At all conventions, the delegates are informed about the upcoming EHPS meetings.
The next convention in 2011 will be hosted jointly by Freie Universität Berlin and the German Centre of Gerontology.
At the bi-annual conventions of the German Psychological Society (DGPs), Health Psychology forms one of the most prominent topics. In 2010, the convention of the DGPs will take place in Bremen. At this congress, an estimated 200 contributions from Health Psychology will be presented. The delegates will receive material informing about the EHPS conferences and workshops.
Health Psychology Journal
The German Health Psychology journal (Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie) was founded in 1992 and is currently publishing its 16th volume. It is a peer-reviewed journal with four issues per year. At the moment, there are about 200 individual and numerous academic subscriptions to the journal. The current editor is Arnold Lohaus (Universität Bielefeld), co-editors are Matthias Jerusalem, Gert Kaluza, Carl-Walter Kohlmann and Britta Renner.
The journal has been accepted for the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), however the first impact factor will be issued only in 2010. It will be indexed in MEDLINE, currently it is listed in PsycInfo, PsycLit, PsyJournals, Psyndex and IBZ.
The journal currently accepts articles both in German and English, but it will change towards an all-English journal in 2011/2012. The journal’s website (http://www.hogrefe.de/?mod=zeitschriften&action=1&site=zgp) gives more information on the journal including editors, policy and submission guidelines.
Link to webpage: http://www.gesundheitspsychologie.net |
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Education, training & professionalisation
Academic development
The change of the academic system according to the Bologna process with the introduction of a more general B.A. / B.Sc. program in psychology (aimed at comparable Bachelor’s degrees in all German universities) and specialised M.A. /M.Sc. programs facilitated the academic institutionalisation of Health Psychology, with Health Psychology becoming a major subject in many B.A./B.Sc. courses. Due to the federal structure of German university education, the system is quite complex with every university deciding on the specific subjects for B.A. /B.Sc. courses. However, a recently started survey within the members of the section of Health Psychology in the German Psychological Society aims at providing a more complete picture of the academic situation.
There are emerging M.A. programs including Health Psychology contents, for example at Freie Universität Berlin or the University of Education in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Contents from Health Psychology are at least partly permeating into structured Ph.D. programs such as the International Max Planck Research School “The Life Course: Evolutionary and Ontongenetic Dynamics (LIFE)” funded by the Max Planck Society.
Applied development
Start-up companies especially focussing on evidence-based Health Psychology programs (e.g., GKM Institute in Marburg) are continuing, with more private sector companies and even private universities focusing on Health Psychology emerging (e.g., BSP Business School Potsdam). Due to the conception of German health care as insurance-based (and paid), evidence-based prevention still lacks the status it should have. Prevention is mainly a task of NGOs and federal institutions (such as the Bundeszentrale für Gesundheitliche Aufklärung, BZgA) rather than being included in the medical system. At least so far, a development comparable to the UK with mandatory evidence-based guidelines for funding such as the MRC framework are still lacking and probably not coming up in the near future.
Additionally, the role of evidence-based practice both in prevention as well as treatment in Germany still has development potentials.
Future activities of the section of Health Psychology within the German Psychological Society (DGPs) aim at ameliorating this.
Education in Health Psychology
The section of Health Psychology organises annual Health Psychology summer schools for graduate and Ph.D. students. At theses summer schools, students have the opportunity to discuss their respective research programs both with peers and a round of Health Psychology experts. The 2009 summer school was hosted at the University of Magdeburg-Stendal, invited experts were Christel Salewski, Wolfgang Maiers, Britta Renner; Thomas Klauer and Ralf Schwarzer. |
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Research
There is a broad range of academic research related to Health Psychology topics in Germany. The section of Health Psychology currently also compiles a register of evidence-based Health Psychology programs (see www.gesundheitspsychologie.net).
EHPS-related activities in Germany
The section of Health Psychology in Germany is, as mentioned above, closely interwoven with EHPS activites. Thus, information on EHPS activities such as the meetings and the annual CREATE and SYNERGY workshops is available to all members of the section via the webpage, a mailing list and the News section in Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie. EHPS meetings are advertised at both the bi-annual Health Psychology conventions (in terms of flyers, but also personal communication) as well as the national psychology conventions. Membership in the EHPS and especially participation in CREATE workshops is being recommended to all attendants of the annual summer schools.
In order to reach more interested persons, information on EHPS meetings and workshops are distributed via the mailing lists of the neighbouring sections in the DGPs such as Social Psychology, Psychology of Education, Developmental Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Medical Psychology. |
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Report 2010/2011
Health Psychology in Germany: Recent and current developments
Academic development
The relatively recent introduction of B.A./B.Sc. and M.A./M.Sc. degrees in Psychology in Germany from 2007 on has seen the first cohort of B.A. graduates in 2010. In most Psychology undergraduate degrees, Health Psychology was more or less prominently featured. The first cohort of M.A/M.Sc. students have taken up graduate studies, with some programs featuring an explicit focus on Health Psychology (e.g., at Freie Universität Berlin or at the University of Education in Schwäbisch Gmünd and at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz). However, due to the federal structure of German university education, the system is quite complex with every university deciding on the specific subjects for B.A. /B.Sc. courses.
As an increasing number of German universities offers courses with Health Psychology contents, more and more academic posts become available. This year (2011) additionally saw job openings for several full professorships in Health Psychology at German universities.
The Health Psychology section of the German Psychological Society has started committee work on recommendations for topics to be covered in Health Psychology courses with the ultimate goal of a collaborative curriculum for Health Psychology both at the B.A. and M.A. level.
Although there are no structured Ph.D. programs in Health Psychology, contents from Health Psychology are permeating into Ph.D. programs such as the International Max Planck Research School “The Life Course: Evolutionary and Ontongenetic Dynamics (LIFE)” funded by the Max Planck Society, which saw substantial proportions of health-related theses in the last years.
Applied development
Due to the conception of German health care as insurance-based (and paid), evidence-based prevention still lacks the status it should have. Prevention is mainly a task of NGOs and federal institutions (such as the Bundeszentrale für Gesundheitliche Aufklärung, BZgA) rather than being included in the medical system. At least so far, a development comparable to the UK with mandatory evidence-based guidelines for funding such as the MRC framework are still lacking and probably not coming up in the near future. Legislation to allow GPs or trained nurses to bill prevention counseling to the health insurances has been in the preparation stage for several years now, but attempts to pass it through parliament have failed.
Additionally, the role of evidence-based practice both in prevention as well as treatment in Germany still has development potentials.
Education in Health Psychology
The section of Health Psychology additionally organises annual Health Psychology summer schools for graduate and Ph.D. students. At theses summer schools, students have the opportunity to discuss their respective research programs both with peers and a round of Health Psychology experts. The 2011 summer school was hosted at the German Centre of Gerontology in Berlin, invited experts were Christel Salewski, Michael Eid, Britta Renner, and Ralf Schwarzer.
Section of Health Psychology in the German Psychological Society (DGPs)
The section of Health Psychology in the German Psychological Society currently has 211 academic members. In 2011, a new board of governors was elected with Claus Vögele (Université de Luxembourg) as speaker, Nina Knoll (Charité University Medical School, Berlin) as co-speaker and Heike Spaderna (Universität Mainz) as treasurer. The section coordinates most activities in the domains of Health Psychology in Germany, among them educational issues, bi-annual Health Psychology conventions (see below) and a Journal (Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie; see below). The section meets annually, once at the bi-annual Health Psychology conventions, once at the bi-annual National Psychology Conventions.
The section of Health Psychology is closely interwoven with the EHPS, as many of its members are also members of the EHPS. A new webpage has recently been launched (www.gesundheitspsychologie.net), contents are all in German.
Conventions
The section of Health Psychology hosts a bi-annual convention. The 2011 convention (10. Kongress für Gesundheitspsychologie) was held at Freie Universität Berlin and was jointly organized by Freie Universität Berlin and the German Centre of Gerontology. In terms of scientific contributions, about 200 abstracts were accepted, and about 280 delegates were present, an increase of about 30% compared to the last conference in Zurich. Keynote speakers included Johannes Siegrist, Hannelore Weber, and Michael Eid. Preconference workshops covered theory-based interventions for health behavior (Falko F. Sniehotta), writing grants (Elmar Brähler) and an introduction to R (Natalie Schüz). At all conventions, the delegates are informed about the upcoming EHPS meetings.
The next convention in 2013 will be hosted by the Université de Luxembourg.
At the bi-annual conventions of the German Psychological Society (DGPs), Health Psychology forms one of the most prominent topics. At the 2010 convention of the DGPs in Bremen, about 200 Health Psychology contributions were presented. The delegates received material informing about the EHPS conferences and workshops, and the EHPS conferences and workshops were advertised in the Health Psychology group AGM.
Health Psychology Journal
The German Health Psychology journal (Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie) was founded in 1992 and is currently publishing its 19th volume. It is a peer-reviewed journal with four issues per year. At the moment, there are about 200 individual and numerous academic subscriptions to the journal. The current editor is Arnold Lohaus (Universität Bielefeld), co-editors are Matthias Jerusalem, Gert Kaluza, Carl-Walter Kohlmann and Britta Renner, who is also the incoming editor.
The journal has been accepted for the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and had its first impact factor published in 2010 (an improvable 0.13). It is indexed in MEDLINE, PsycInfo, PsycLit, PsyJournals, Psyndex and IBZ.
The journal currently accepts articles both in German and English, and it is being discussed to switch the journal towards an all-English journal within the next years. The journal’s website (http://www.hogrefe.de/?mod=zeitschriften&action=1&site=zgp) gives more information on the journal including editors, policy and submission guidelines.
Current research
There is a broad range of academic research related to Health Psychology topics in Germany. The section of Health Psychology currently also compiles a register of evidence-based Health Psychology programs (see www.gesundheitspsychologie.net).
EHPS-related activities in Germany
The section of Health Psychology in Germany is, as mentioned above, closely interwoven with EHPS activities. Thus, information on EHPS activities such as the meetings and the annual CREATE and SYNERGY workshops is available to all members of the section via the webpage, a mailing list and the News section in Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie. EHPS meetings are advertised at both the bi-annual Health Psychology conventions (in terms of flyers, but also personal communication) as well as the national psychology conventions. Membership in the EHPS and especially participation in CREATE workshops is being recommended to all attendants of the annual summer schools.
In order to reach more interested persons, information on EHPS meetings and workshops are distributed via the mailing lists of the neighbouring sections in the DGPs such as Social Psychology, Psychology of Education, Developmental Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Medical Psychology. |
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