Abstract

NUNES BAPTISTA, Makilim; GARCIA CAPITAO, Cláudio  and  ALBA SCORTEGAGNA, Silvana. Evaluación psicológica en la salud: contextos actuales. Estud. soc [online]. 2006, vol.14, n.28, pp.137-161. ISSN 0188-4557.

The present article is aimed at pointing the main developments on the psychological appraisal in the health context. Surpassing the biomedical model centered on illness and attribution to human behavior as main cause of morbidity and mortality has meant a fundamental change. The psychological appraisal in medical environments may be considered as an adequate tool in the assessment of decisions related to differential diagnosis, type of necessary treatment as well as prognosis. The psychology of health recognizes health and illness to be determined by multiple factors - etiologic, genetic, biochemical, behavioral and social-environmental - which can interact in complex ways, and whose comprehension requires a sophisticated understanding and not only a specialized one on the relations among these factors. The psychological appraisal in the health context is directed towards knowledge development, by means of application, validation and construction of instruments that can appraise problems related to health and illness, so to permit its results to be available to clinic-assistant agents.

Keywords : psychological appraisal; illness; psychological health.