• Choose a specific health services career to research.  Some options follow:
• medical social worker
• physical, occupational, rehabilitation, or respiratory therapist
• nurse, nurse-practitioner, pediatric nurse, hospice nurse, home care nurse, midwife
• medical doctor, doctor of osteopathy, physician's assistant
• health psychologist
• drug or alcohol treatment counselor
• Find information about the career
• You will need at least 4 references of at least 2 different kinds about your chosen career (e.g., web, books, pamphlets, interviews). Here are some web places to start:
• Index of several health psychology sites http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~health/
• Another index of several health psychology sites  http://denis.dordt.edu/academics/departments/psychology/links.htm#Health
• American Psychological Association's Division 38 on Health Psychology at http://www.health-psych.org/
• Canadian Health Psychology section http://is.dal.ca/~hlthpsyc/hlthhome.htm
• You may wish to contact local health service providers to arrange an informational interview; professional courtesy requires that you send a follow-up thank you note.

Turn in a typed, 1-paragraph description of your health services career and at least 1 relevant reference in APA-style by classtime on February 21.  Also indicate whether you will present your career paper or your research paper as a poster.

 
Writing your Paper

---

• Describe the chosen career, including information on:
• the focus of the career (e.g, how is a nurse-practitioner different from a regular nurse?)
• the kinds of people/personalities that best fit with this career
• the education, training, and any licensing/certification requirements
• salary range
• range of work settings (e.g., clinic, private homes) and whether a team or individual approach is more common
• typical responsibilities and daily tasks (e.g., prescribing drugs, educating families)
• typical client/patient population (e.g., kids, hospital patients, nursing home patients)
• Describe what aspects of the BPS(S) model are emphasized and which are relatively neglected in this career
• Offer some personal reflections (1-2 paragraphs) on the extent to which you believe this career path would or would not be a good match with your own interests or abilities
• Note: synthesize the information you find by topic rather than summarizing each source at a time
• For example, say "osteopaths must earn an M.D. (APA, 1994; Van Es, 1991) and complete an additional year of training at an osteopathic clinic (APA, 1994)"  instead of "Van Es (1991) say that osteopaths must earn an M.D.  The APA also says that they must earn an M.D. and also complete training.  Smith (1998) says...."

• The paper (excluding title page and references page) should be 3-5 double-spaced, typed pages.
• Papers must follow APA style in terms of the title page, proper referencing, and professional writing style.
• If you interviewed someone for information,  turn in a copy of the thank-you card or e-mail you sent.

• demonstrate good understanding of the background needed to enter the chosen career
• demonstrate a good understanding of the range of tasks experienced by someone working in this career
• demonstrate the ability to correctly and insightfully apply the BPS(S) model to the setting and responsibilities
• offer insights into how one's own interests and abilities would fit with this career
• demonstrate the ability to synthesize information from at least 4 sources
• be well-written and meet the format and APA-style requirements (note that a significant number of grammatical errors will decrease your grade)

top of page

Health Psych Home Page

E-mail Dr. Lantinga

E-mail Dr. Christians

this page last revised January 2004