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| NATIONAL DELEGATE
Molly Byrne
Lecturer & Director of MSc in Health Psychology
School of Psychology
National University of Ireland
Galway (Ireland)
tel. +353 (0)91 495182
e-mail: molly.byrne@nuigalway.ie
web: http://www.nuigalway.ie/psychology/
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The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) established a Special Interest Group in Health Psychology in 1987, followed by the Division of Health Psychology (DHP) which was formally established in 2003.
The primary aims of the DHP are to promote awareness of Health Psychology in Ireland as a distinct specialism, to develop a clearly defined career pathway for Health Psychologists in Ireland, and to promote and encourage research in Health Psychology.
The DHP organises several events throughout the year, including training workshops and an annual scientific conference ‘Psychology, Health and Medicine’. This conference attracts some 130 multidisciplinary delegates from Ireland and abroad, providing an ideal opportunity to strengthen networks of those involved in the field. The 8th annual conference was held in the National University of Ireland, Galway in April 2011; the 9th annual conference is due to be held in Queen’s University Belfast in April 2012.
Ireland has actively engaged with the EHPS for many years. From 1998 – 2000, the EHPS President was Professor Hannah McGee, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The 10th EHPS Annual Conference was hosted by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1996 and the 19th EHPS Annual Conference was hosted by the National University of Ireland Galway in 2005. In 2006 – 2008, David Hevey, of Trinity College Dublin, served on the EHPS Committee. Karen Morgan, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, is currently secretary of the EHPS Committee.
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National associations
The Psychological Society of Ireland (PSI) Division of Health Psychology is the main advocacy group for Health Psychology in the Republic of Ireland. The Division currently has around 50 members. The DHP organises several events throughout the year, including training workshops and an annual scientific conference ‘Psychology, Health and Medicine’. This conference attracts some 130 multidisciplinary delegates from Ireland and abroad, providing an ideal opportunity to strengthen networks of those involved in the field. The 8th annual conference was held in the National University of Ireland, Galway in April 2011; the 9th annual conference is due to be held in Queen’s University Belfast in April 2012.
See: http://www.psihq.ie/members_div_health.asp
Members of the PSI DHP work closely with the Division of Health Psychology, Northern Ireland Branch of the British Psychological Society. The NIB DHP has collaborated with the PSI DHP since 2007 in hosting the annual ‘Psychology, Health and Medicine’ Conference.
See: http://www.health-psychology.org.uk/dhp-northern-ireland/dhp-northern-ireland_home.cfm |
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Education, training & professionalisation
In the Republic of Ireland, there is one MSc in Health Psychology programme which is offered at the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI, Galway).This is a 12 month training programme with an annual intake of 15 students. More information can be found at: http://www.nuigalway.ie/psy/mhp1.html
In Northern Ireland, a PgDip and MSc in Health Psychology are offered at the University of Ulster through distance learning. More information can be found at: http://prospectus.ulster.ac.uk/course/?id=7667 |
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Research
There are a number is research hubs for Health Psychology in Ireland. Some of these are listed below:
The Psychology and Health Research Cluster at the School of Psychology NUI, Galway http://www.nuigalway.ie/psy/ The Centre for Research on Occupational and Life Stress (CROLS) at NUI, Galway
http://www.nuigalway.ie/crols/news.html
The Health Services Research Centre at the Department of Psychology, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
http://www.rcsi.ie/index.jsp?p=254&n=541#Psychology
The Health Psychology Research Group at the School of Psychology, the University of Ulster.
http://www.science.ulster.ac.uk/psyri/Health-Psychology.html#page=background
The HRB Centre for Primary Care Research based at the Department of General Practice, RCSI, is a collaborative venture between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB).
http://www.hrbcentreprimarycare.ie/default.aspx?ID=3 |
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Report 2010/2011
Health Psychology in Ireland
Health psychology is an expanding and increasingly recognised discipline in Ireland. Modules in health psychology are now being offered to students taking courses in medicine, speech and language therapy, nursing studies, and at undergraduate levels in many degree programmes.
Information and link to the national association
In Ireland, the Psychological Society of Ireland established a Division of Health Psychology in 2005 which is an active and productive group, running workshops and conferences regularly. Full information on this organisation can be found at http://www.psihq.ie/members_div_health.asp
Education, training & professionalization
NUI Galway runs the only MSc in Health Psychology in the republic of Ireland. This course has been running since 1994 and is currently run as a one year Masters. This highly successful programme has over 70 applications each year and has 15 places for graduates. Full information on this course can be obtained on http://www.nuigalway.ie/psy/mhp1.html. A new distance learning MSc in Health Psychology was recently set up in the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. A new Structured PhD in Psychology and Health was also established in NUI Galway last year. Full information on this course is available at: http://www.nuigalway.ie/courses/research-postgraduate-programmes/structured-phd/psychology-health.html
Research
Research in the area of Health Psychology is thriving in Ireland. There are very active groups of researchers in most of the major universities in Ireland. NUI Galway recently established a Psychology and Health research cluster to develop a synergy between existing health psychology research endeavours. There are also a number of research centres including the Centre for Pain Research (CPR) and CROLs. The Division of Health Psychology has been running a highly successful annual conference Psychology, Health and Medicine since 2004 to facilitate the dissemination of health psychology research in Ireland. This conference has provided keynotes some of the finest international researchers in the field of health psychology and has grown to over 100 delegates since its inception. |
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