Pediatric psychology combines scientific research and clinical practice to address the psychological aspects of illness, injury and the promotion of health behavior in children, adolescents and their families, within pediatric healthcare settings. Working from a developmental framework, the field emphasizes the dynamic relationships among children, families and healthcare systems, and its areas of study include psychosocial development, environmental factors in disorder, the outcomes of medical conditions, treating the behavioral and emotional components of illness, promoting health behaviors, addressing developmental disabilities, educating other health professionals, and advocating for child health policy.
Facts
Central QuestionPediatric psychology asks how psychological, developmental and family factors shape children's adjustment to illness, injury and medical treatment, and how psychological practice built into pediatric health care can improve those outcomes. 1 Key DebateThe field's own scope was contested from its early years. Jerome Kagan argued for a broad role in which the psychologist could help across many areas of the new partnership between pediatrics and psychology, while Logan Wright argued for a narrower, more behavioral role centered on parent training, child development and short-term therapy. 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Pediatric psychology
Wikimedia Foundationlead section
Pediatric psychology is a multidisciplinary field of both scientific research and clinical practice which attempts to address the psychological aspects of illness, injury, and the promotion of health behaviors in children, adolescents, and families in a pediatric health setting.
history section, Wright paragraph
Logan Wright, however, had a different idea of what a pediatric psychologists job should address.
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