Clinical Health Psychology Booming??

[ProspectivPsych]

Hi everyone!

I am an undergrad student in psychology who is interested in Clinical Health Psychology but have a few questions... I know a minority of you may be in this path (clinical Health,) but maybe you have some type of knowledge on this..

1. Is it a booming/growing field? (Especially with managed care) Would insurance companies pay for this type of service (e.g.,hospitals?) Are there jobs in this field???

2. Anyone happen to have salary info??? Might the pay for Clinical Psychs in Health be moderately lower?

3. Are "Clinical Health" programs (overall) less, more or as competitive than general clinical programs?


Thanks for all your help.

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[erg923]

1.) yes, it is a growing and emerging subspecialty, no doubt about that. Especially research wise. Alot grant money for it right now.

2.) As with all jobs, salary is commiserate with experience, and varies widely by region and the setting you work in. Clinical neuropsychs make the most, on average, out of the all subspecialties. However clincial healths can make good money as well.

3.) Clinical health programs are really just clincial psychology doctoral programs with "concentrations" in health psychology within them. In other words, there are no seperate programs for "clinical health psych. The training comes within clincial programs that happen to offer a concentration in health psych. They only one I know of that is purely "clinical health psychology" is University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC).

 

[futurepsydoc]

check out the university of florida, department of clinincal and health psychology. I provided a link below:

http://chp.phhp.ufl.edu/programs/doctoral/index.html.

The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine also has a focus on health psychology. I am not sure if its for the masther's program only.

www.pcom.edu

 

[Ollie123]

1) Growing field, many jobs.

2) Lower than what? Specialization generally means higher pay if you go the clinical route. Academia it can be higher pay depending on the setting. The hospital I work at is starting new folks at 75k right now - you won't see anywhere near that at most psych departments.

3) They're not really any more or less competitive just because the lines are blurry. "Clinical health" is a clinical psychologist as well. Its a specialty, not a completely different field.

 

[CSnoopRun]

1.)
3.) Clinical health programs are really just clincial psychology doctoral programs with "concentrations" in health psychology within them. In other words, there are no seperate programs for "clinical health psych. The training comes within clincial programs that happen to offer a concentration in health psych. They only one I know of that is purely "clinical health psychology" is University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC).

University of North Texas also: http://www.unt.edu/bmed/

 

[myelin]

University of North Texas also: http://www.unt.edu/bmed/

Are you a UNT student? I got the feeling that you were from another post you made. I went there for undergrad and spent many hours in Terrill Hall.

 

[Thrak]

Rutgers has a concentration in Health as well.

 

[shock-me-sane]

I can't speak to most of your questions, but University of Miami has a concentration in clinical health psychology as well.

 

[PsyDr]

health psychs is in a controversy right now.

1) there are several academic jobs that are being created. but there are not that many private practice jobs, as the billing for health psych services are very difficult to get reimbursed the correct way. outside of major academic hospitals, and not all of those, there are few hospital jobs.

2) salary is generally the same as clinical psych.

3) yes, they are more competitive.

 

[CSnoopRun]

Are you a UNT student? I got the feeling that you were from another post you made. I went there for undergrad and spent many hours in Terrill Hall.

Yep- sure am. 🙂 Will you be applying to return?

 

[cheeze]

I know this is an old thread but I have a semi-related question and didn't want to start a new thread.

Whats the difference between clinical health psyc and health psyc? Aside for the clinical training, assuming they are both research oriented, whats the difference?

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I know this is an old thread but I have a semi-related question and didn't want to start a new thread.

Whats the difference between clinical health psyc and health psyc? Aside for the clinical training, assuming they are both research oriented, whats the difference?

While I have little knowledge of non-clinical health psych programs, I'd imagine the difference between them and clinical psych programs would be, as expected, the clinical component (or absence thereof). My guess would be that, as with other non-clinical psych fields, health psych would be very research-oriented, and would focus on the interactions of psychology and medical care.

In my opinion, given the choice of either, I'd opt for the clinical program if for no other reason than the expanded options and the experience working with clients/patients. Excellent research ideas often arise from clinical interactions.

 

[Ollie123]

Pretty much.

Though be warned, when most people say "health psychology", they will generally be referring to clinical health psychology...and then includes program brochures and the like. I'd never heard of a non-clinical health psychology program outside of this board, but it seems like most major clinical departments will have at least one health psychology faculty member these days.

Also note that the definition of health psych can be pretty broad. I think most people would view ED and substance use as within the traditional clinical domain, both are often considered health psychology as well. So the lines are kind of blurry. In reality, I don't think it matters much - study what you want to study.

 

[cheeze]

Delete

 

[clinicalpsyapp]

The main reason I'm asking this is because I'm having trouble articulating why clinical psychology with a specialty in health/behavioral medicine instead of health psychology at universities that offer both graduate majors. And I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression.

Provided they are both clinical programs, this shouldn't be a problem.

As far as I could tell from applying, there are really 3 categories of Health Psychology programs:

1. Clinical Psychology with a Health Psychology Concentration (e.g. UMBC, Univ of Florida)
2. Combined programs (set up more as a double major--usually takes longer, e.g. Univ of Pittsburgh)
3. Health Psychology (sometimes actually housed in a Social Psychology department, e.g. SUNY Stony Brook)

I would take some time to evaluate exactly what you're looking for, if you're interested in clinical work, etc. If you are interested in purely academia, you could look into all three with a focus on the 3rd option. If you would like the option to do clinical work, focus on 1 and 2. Also, if you're not sure, you might want to focus more on schools like Pittsburgh that have a Clinical program AND a Health Psychology program--that way you could always drop one major if you decide you're no longer interested.

As an aside, I would really try to determine what area of health psychology you are interested in--that may help you decide which programs to apply to and also help with admission to those programs. I know it seems that you have made a highly specialized choice by choosing health psychology, you'll find that the field is actually very diverse with lots of subfields. And I've noticed that some subfields of health psychology are very picky about their students having SPECIFIC knowledge/experience in that area (e.g. psychoneuroimmunology).

To get an idea of the different subfields of health psychology, check out the list in the interest section of the APA Division of Health Psychology's program search: http://www.health-psych.org/ProgramSearch.cfm

You can also check out resources on the American Psychosomatic Society and Society for Behavioral Medicine websites. Also, feel free to PM me--I'm currently in a program that falls into the first category but strongly considered the other types of programs, so I could share more with you on why I made that decision.

Hope this helps!

 

[PhDToBe]

University of Alabama has a clinical health concentration, as well.

 

[loveoforganic]

University of Alabama has a clinical health concentration, as well.

And at least one very awesome health professor 👍