Definitions and background

1. “Psychosocial” refers generally to the
psychological status of an individual within the
context of their social environment.
2. “Well woman” refers both to the absence of
disease and the experience of health. This implies
a broad definition of health to include cognitive,
emotional, physical, psychological, spiritual, and
environmental factors.
3. Assessment of and screening for psychosocial
health is deeply connected to the quality of the
provider–patient relationship. The life and clinical
experience of the provider has a profound impact
on decisions about the value, methodology, and
approach toward assessment of psychosocial
health. Some providers feel this is not an essential
role for the clinician, and others see the
relationship as a potentially powerful tool toward
understanding the individual, enhancing a
relationship with them and potentially favorably
influencing the patients future health.
The provider–patient relationship is a potentially
powerful tool for understanding an individual,
enhancing the relationship and potentially favorably
influencing future health.
4. There is, inherent in relational work, the potential
for affecting a provider’s own satisfaction with the
daily work of supplying medical care to diverse
peoples. It can be delightfully refreshing to
provide medical care for a “well” person even if
there is considerable variation in what the
parameters of that care might include.
5. Each provider brings to the exam room a set of
knowledge, beliefs, and experiences rooted in their
own upbringing, family system, and education
and training experiences. Depending on the era of
the provider’s training, his/her own knowledge
base about the normal psychological development
of women (and men) will vary widely.
6. Many physicians, nurse practitioners and
physician assistants have had little to no training
or educational background in healthy women’s
psychological development. Their approach and
understanding to psychosocial issues might then
be limited to their own family’s system and their
clinical experience. Other providers may have had
extensive training in traditional psychology that,
historically, has viewed women’s psychological
development as deviant from that of men.
7. In the last two decades, feminist thinkers have
advanced alternative theories about women’s
psychological development that have influenced
the thinking and approach of mental health and primary care providers. For some practitioners
exposure to the “biopsychosocial model” came
during their clinical training and is rooted in family
systems theory and thinking. The practitioner’s
knowledge base, wherever rooted, significantly
affects his/her ability to attend to psychosocial
issues in a woman’s life. All practitioners should be
fully aware of the strengths and limitations of their
own experience in this regard.

Posted in: Health,Psychosocial health of well women through the life-cycle