EHPS National Delegate

Support the EHPS to deliver its aim of helping individuals, families, and societies to better cope with life challenges related to illness and health, by promoting rigorous science, health promotion interventions, and close collaborations.

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Hungary

Piroska Balog

Semmelweis University

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The Hungarian Society for Psycho-Physiology and Health Psychology was founded in 1989, under the leadership of professor Maria Kopp. Its members are psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, and anthropologists. The Board consists of 3 members, the President, the Chancellor, and the Treasurer.The mission of the Hungarian Society of Psycho-Physiology and Health Psychology is to build on the legacy of famous Hungarian psycho-physiologists (János Selye, Alexander Franz, Endre Grastyán, and Kálmán Lissák) and advance research on the regulation of the interactions between the human and his/her environment, to contribute to the prevention and management of diseases arising at this interface, and to improve physiological and psychological determinants of human creativity. There are several research groups within the Society (https://semmelweis.hu/magtud/en/research/research-groups/).

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Graduate trainings (master’s trainings) in health psychology are available at several Universities in Hungary. The master’s degree in health psychology was first announced in the 2008/2009 academic year by the Institute of Behavioral Sciences at Debrecen (4 semesters). This nationally unique masters’s course (MSc), currently only launched by the University of Debrecen (Faculty of Medicine) provides its students with a modern foundation in health sciences, in addition to being embedded in the traditional humanities (https://aok.unideb.hu/node/441). The other master's degree (MA) programs in Clinical and Health Psychology are available at Szeged University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (http://arts.u-szeged.hu/kepzesek-btk/mesterkepzes/pszichologia), at Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary (https://btk.kre.hu/index.php/pszichologia-ma), at University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

(https://btk.pte.hu/hu/pszichologia-intezet/klinikai-es-egeszsegpszichologia-specializacio-felveteli-informaciok), at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Faculty of Humanities (https://btk.ppke.hu/felvetelizoknek/szakajanlo/mesterkepzesek-ma/pszichologia) and at ELTE (Eötvös Lorand University), Faculty of Education and Psychology (https://www.ppk.elte.hu/psychology_ma_program_). The aim of these training programs is “to train experts in the applied branches of clinical and health psychology who possess an extensive knowledge of diagnostics, therapy and clinical research, who have wide-ranging skills in methodology and who are able to use their Master’s level knowledge of psychology in the service of promoting and improving health“ – can be read on the website of the MA specialization advertised by ELTE. In addition, it provides foundational training for the four-year clinical and mental health professional education as well as for the doctoral courses in health sciences. Postgraduate trainings in Health Psychology are available at two Universities in Hungary.

It was launched in 2008 the Health Promotion Psychologist training (4 semesters) at ELTE (Eotvos Lorand University, Faculty of Education and Psychology). This training (https://ppk.elte.hu/szakiranyu/egeszsegfejleszto-szakpszichologus) only starts if the number of applications reaches the minimum number required (30) to start. Therefore, this course does not start every year, so it did not start in 2022 either, because there were not enough applicants. The other postgraduate training in Health Psychology is the applied (clinical) health psychology training which was established in 2013 by the University of Szeged, Albert-Szentgyörgyi Medical School.

This is a unique training in Hungary (http://www.med.u-szeged.hu/oktatas/jelentkezesi/jelentkezesi, providing a health professional specialty qualification for those with an MA degree in psychology. The founder and first head of the training was Prof. Dr. Márta Csabai (csabai.marta@kre.hu). Prof. Dr. Tamás Martos took over the leadership of the training in 2022 (tamas.martos@psy.u-szeged.hu). The first national specialty exams were held in 2016; since then, 15-20 qualified “applied health psychologists” have taken the examination every year. The 36-month training course (6 semesters) aims to train psychologists involved in the health sector - primarily in somatic care, prevention, and rehabilitation - to improve disease prevention and treatment work in primary and specialist care.

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