I thought the talk during class yesterday with Dr. Olbirsch and Ebony Lambert was very insightful and interesting. It was helpful to see the many ways in which health psychology can be applied. I thought it was also interesting to get a perspective from someone who is in graduate school compared to someone who has been working in the field for many years and has filled many different positions. I really enjoyed listening to Ebony’s research on black student health. This concept is really interesting and a concept that was new to me and probably many others. I found it fascinating when she was talking about the changes that could be made to a classroom to help a child with asthma, such as the type of floor or rug. Dr. Olbirsch works with patients who are potentially going to receive weight loss surgery, which is also interesting and applies to what we have learned in class.
I found it interesting as a senior to listen to this talk and hear how their degrees in health psychology have led them to where they are today. I think especially for the field of health psychology it is easy to go into many different careers. I also thought it was interesting when the speakers discussed barriers when working with a patient. I thought the example Dr. Olbirsch gave was interesting, regarding formulating a weight loss program specifically designed for an individual patient. She gave the example of how it would not be beneficial to tell an African-American woman to swim in order to lose weight due to the amount of maintenance their hair requires.
I liked the part of the presentation when they discussed the stereotypes associated with health psychology. Both speakers agreed that health psychology is not a field that many people are familiar with and often times it is mistaken for social work, which Dr. Olbirsch in particular found to be frustrating. I think it is important for more people to be aware of what health psychology is and the many career paths you can go down with a degree in health psychology