An individual or group's capacity to search for, understand, and incorporate health behaviors and resources into their lives. High literacy increases self-efficacy and adherence to healthy lifestyle changes, whereas low literacy can impede access to medical care and accurate information. 
The 3 main categories of health literacy are: functional, interactive and critical health literacy.

Health Literacy 

Mistrust in the safety, effectiveness, and/or ethics surrounding modern immunization practices developed in most recent medical advances.

Vaccine Hesitancy

Policy is a set of guidelines regulated by the political system that determines the decisions, goals, and actions of healthcare institutions to address public health issues and promote wellness. Regulations are informed and shaped by researchers, lobbyists, professionals, and the constituency. 

Health Policy

- Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities (TASC)

Examples of Population Interventions

Health promotion, an interdisciplinary individual or large-scale behavior intervention with the purpose of increasing accessibility to community health resources by addressing social and societal determinants of health, focuses on the following topics:

•Health Policy 

•Health Literacy 

•Developing Healthy Communities and Settings


Grand Valley State University

Topics of interest for research in the field of health psychology include:
-	Behavior
-	Chronic Illness
-	Culture
-	Environmental Health
-	Health Care
-	Media
-	Mental Health 
-	Nutrition
-	Physical Health
-	Social Health
-	Stress
- Leisure Activities

Focuses of Research Relating to Health Psychology

World Health Organization. (2019, November 15). Health promotion. Who.int. https://www.who.int/health-topics/health-promotion#tab=tab_1
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Health Promotion

The body's response to stressors from within the body or from the environment. 

Stress (Psychological Stress)

Stress is a process through which an individual perceives and responds to events, known as stressors, that they appraise as overwhelming or threatening to their well-being. This cognitive appraisal of the event and one's ability to cope with it is a key determinant of the resulting physiological or psychological strain. While often viewed negatively, stress can also be an adaptive response to challenging situations.

Stress

Epigenetics is the study of how environmental factors can influence the expression of genes without changing the underlying DNA sequence. This field examines how the same genotype can result in very different phenotypes, providing a framework for understanding how experiences and environment can impact health and behavior.

Epigenetics

Health Promotion and Population Interventions

Health Psychology research relating to chronic illnesses studies the interactions of how chronic illnesses and psychology influence each other. This research can be divided into research regarding 
-	Chronic Illnesses in General
-	Specific Chronic Illnesses 


Health Psychology and Chronic Illness

Health Psychology research relating to behavior studies how certain choices, decision-making, and actions influence our health. Topics of interest regarding behavior in health psychology include
- Lifestyle


Health Psychology and Behavior

Health Psychology research relating to culture studies how different cultures and aspects of culture interpret and understand the concept to health, and how the interaction with our health differs. Categories of health psychology research in culture include
- Culture as a General Concept
- Ethnicity
- Language
- Specific Cultures


Health Psychology and Culture 

Health Psychology research relating to environmental health studies the intersection of our interactions with natural and built environments, to our health and how they influence each other. Topics of studies relating to health include
-	Climate Change
-	Extreme Weather & Natural Disasters
-	Pollution
- Urban Environments


Health Psychology and Environmental Health

Health Psychology research relating to healthcare largely focuses on the treatment, care, and prevention of disease. Research in this area can be divided into subjects regarding
-	The Healthcare Industry
-	Treatment and Therapy


Health Psychology and Healthcare

Health Psychology research relating to media explores the relationship that different forms of media help to influence our understanding of health, as well as the processes that is taken in the dissemination of health-related information.Topics of interest regarding media and health include
-	Information and Misinformation
-	Media Consumption
-	Media’s Portrayals of Health
-	Social Media


Health Psychology and Media

Health Psychology research relating to Mental Health studies the interaction between mental health and our other dimensions of health. This research can be divided into categories regarding 
-	Mental Health in General
-	Specific Mental Health Conditions
- Specific Mental Health Signs & Symptoms


Health Psychology and Mental Health

Health Psychology research relating to Nutrition studies the intersection of our psychological health and our diet, and how they influence each other. Topics of study relating to nutrition include
-	Eating Disorders
-	Eating Habits and Behaviors 
-	Food and Emotions
-	Food Insecurity

Health Psychology and Nutrition

Health Psychology research relating to Physical Health studies the interaction between physical health and our other dimensions of health. This research can be divided into categories regarding
-	Life Stages & Aging 
-	Physical Health in General 
-	Specific Physical Health Conditions
- Specific Physical Health Signs & Symptoms

Health Psychology and Physical Health

Health Psychology Research relating to Social Health studies the interaction between physical health and our other dimensions of health. This research can be divided into categories regarding
-	Social Identity
-	Social Groups & Relationships 

Health Psychology and Social Health

Health Psychology research relating to stress studies the interaction between stress, stressors, and our health. Topics of interest include
-	Stress Management


Health Psychology and Stress

Physiological approaches to health psychology: The physiological approach to health psychology focuses on the individual’s biological makeup, behavior and experiences. The goal of treatment in health psychology is to modify variables that affect illness, and therefore incorporate a physiological approach or utilize a combination of a physiological approach with another. Oftentimes, physiological approaches such as biofeedback and relaxation are used in combination with other treatment types. 

Physiological Approaches to Health Psychology

Health psychology research related to leisure activities investigates how voluntary engagement in non-work activities during spare time impacts one's health and well-being. Topics of interest may include: 

- LA Categorization 
- Lifestyle
- Health Promotion
- Protective Role
- Preventive Role
- Intervening Role
- Symptom Management
- Mechanisms of Action (MOA)

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