In the 1980s there was an informal group of 60-80 professionals interested in health Psychology in Slovakia. The Health Psychology section within the Slovak Psychological Association of the Slovak Academy of Science was created in 1995. Since 2006 a National Conference of Health Psychology has been organized yearly, including a meeting of members. Health Psychology does not exist yet as a discipline on its own right now in Slovakia and there are no specific training programs until today. There are several institutions that have included it in their curricula as a course.
Health psychologists in Slovakia have possibility to be organized by The Health Psychology section within Slovak Psychological Association of the Slovak Academy of Science.
Health Psychology is not recognized as a specialization in Slovakia. A systematic review of education in the field of Health Psychology is lacking. However, Health Psychology courses are offered by several universities under different study programs.
Research in the field of Health Psychology and Health promotion is primarily done by individual Health Psychology researchers within several academic institutions in different parts of Slovakia who received national or EU Funding. They are focusing on the broad area of interest within Health Psychology and Health Promotion and publish their findings on national level as well as in the international SSCI journals.
I am a Professor in Clinical Health Psychology at the Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Greece. For more than a decade, I served as the Head of the Counselling Center for Students at the University of Crete. In addition, I served as Head of the Department of Psychology, University of Crete for two years. I currently collaborate with the University of Crete Medical School, and the Faculty of Nursing and the Dental School at the University of Athens, and I am actively involved in the activities of local associations for the support of patients suffering from cancer. I have been a member of the European Health Psychology Society since 2002 and I was the Greek National Delegate for several years (2004 – 2010). Also, I have helped in the organization of seven EHPS conferences as a Scientific Program Track Chair or as a member of the Scientific Committee, and I was the Chair of the Organizing Committee and President of the 25th EHPS Conference in Crete. For the last two years, I served as a co-opted member of the EHPS Executive Committee (National Delegate Officer). This year, I was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Society. My research interests include patient adaptation to chronic illness, the role of stress and related factors in health and illness, individual differences in health, self-regulation and dyadic regulation. Currently, I am a member of the editorial board in seven international journals and an Assoc. Editor of Translational Behavior Medicine. As President-Elect, I plan to focus on the strengthening of the international impact of the EHPS, as well as on the enhancement of the collaboration with local national health psychology societies/organizations.