01
Understanding Health & Well-being
Definitions of health, biopsychosocial explanations, resilience, quality of life and the interaction between individuals, relationships and environments.
Unit Purpose
This unit investigates health and well-being through biological, cognitive and sociocultural perspectives. Students examine stress, mental health, substance use and health behaviour while evaluating psychological claims, interventions and the ethical application of evidence.
Curriculum Journey
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Biological Foundations of Health
Genetics, hormones, neurotransmitters, neural systems, physiological stress responses and the interaction between biology and experience.
03
Stress, Coping & Adaptation
Appraisal, acute and chronic stress, coping strategies, social support, resilience and individual and cultural variation in adaptation.
04
Mental Health & Psychological Disorders
Definitions and classification, biological and psychological explanations, stigma, cultural perspectives, treatment and the limits of single-perspective accounts.
05
Substance Use & Addiction
Reward and dependence, learning, cognition, motivation, social context, risk and protective factors, prevention and recovery.
06
Culture, Society & Health Behaviour
Health beliefs, social norms, inequality, stigma, access, media and technology, cultural variation and community support.
07
Improving Health Through Psychological Research
Behaviour change, prevention, treatment, public-health messaging and the evaluation of effectiveness, ethics, feasibility and cultural fit.
Skills Developed
Concept-based Critical Thinking
Students apply bias, causality, change, measurement, perspective and responsibility to addiction, stress, depression, prevalence and treatment.
Causal Reasoning & Change
Students distinguish association from causation, trace domino and cumulative pathways, consider reciprocal effects and evaluate change across time and intervention.
Research Methods & Evidence
Students evaluate experiments, natural and quasi-experiments, longitudinal research, surveys, focus groups, interviews and clinical studies through validity, reliability, sampling, control and triangulation.
Diagnosis & Measurement
Students apply diagnostic criteria and evaluate how stress, symptoms, cognition and treatment outcomes are operationalized through scales, interviews, self-report and clinical ratings.
Data & Prevalence Interpretation
Students interpret global maps, correlations, population comparisons and longitudinal trends while questioning reporting, access, missing data and cultural validity.
Perspective & Cultural Literacy
Students compare biological, cognitive, sociocultural, Western medical and Indigenous approaches without reducing mental health to a single explanation.
Ethics & Responsibility
Students address stigma, vulnerable participants, informed consent, anonymity, sensitive questions, treatment risk and responsible public-health communication.
Academic Communication
Students plan and write concept-based responses, evaluate studies, grade model work, justify conclusions and communicate health evidence cautiously and precisely.
Assessment Connections
Aligned with the IB Psychology assessment model for first assessment in 2027.
Paper 1: Concepts, Content & Contexts
Students explain and apply Health & Wellbeing content and construct concept-based responses. The materials include Section C work on bias, causality and perspective, plus developed evaluation using all six concepts.
Paper 2: Applying Research Methods
Paper 2 draws on the four Class Practicals completed across the course. Health & Wellbeing contributes the semi-structured interview. Students describe its method, apply concepts, compare it with other methods and design an alternative study of the same topic.
Unit Activities
Addiction Perspectives, Global Data & Change
Students interpret global substance-use maps, compare historical and contemporary views of addiction and evaluate Avery et al. on warning messages, cognitive dissonance and responsible health communication.
Stress Scale & Domino Causality
Students critique the Holmes and Rahe scale, interpret its correlation with illness, sequence a stress-to-addiction pathway and evaluate McLaughlin et al. before planning a causality essay.
Social Learning & Media Debate
Students apply Social Learning Theory to substance use, research whether social media can model healthier behaviour and debate the evidence through bias, causality and measurement.
Prevalence & Smoking-ban Evidence
Students compare Feigl et al., Fu et al. and MacKay et al., rank evidence for change over time and evaluate Park et al. on adolescent smoking in Korea and China.
Substance-use Treatment Evaluation
Students compare behaviour-change plans and evaluate NRT, CBT and virtual-reality cue exposure through mechanisms, obstacles, effectiveness, bias, measurement and responsibility.
Everyday Academic Stress-management Interview
Students conduct a semi-structured individual interview with one volunteer or opportunity participant. They use an approved open-question schedule, record anonymous notes, identify themes and evaluate the method for Paper 2. A teacher-approved focus group of three to eight participants is an alternative.
Applying Diagnostic Criteria
Students use the Jordan case to apply Major Depressive Disorder criteria, justify a diagnostic decision and identify symptoms that are difficult to measure responsibly.
Genetics & Depression
Students compare twin, adoption, linkage and genome-wide research, evaluate reductionism and assess Weissman et al. through bias, causality, measurement and responsibility.
Beck's Cognitive Model & Evidence
Students explain the cognitive triad, schemas and thinking patterns, evaluate the model using the six concepts and assess Joiner et al.'s natural experiment and measurement tools.
Environmental Factors & Causality
Students complete and critique causal arguments, evaluate Shi et al. on traffic noise and depression, and grade an essay on environmental explanations and complex causality.
Prevalence & Cultural Differences
Students interpret cross-population patterns, explain possible differences through structured scenarios, investigate post-COVID prevalence and plan concept-based essay paragraphs.
Western & Indigenous Approaches
Students compare case studies, investigate land-based healing, smudging, storytelling and talking circles, and propose a culturally responsible blended approach to mental-health care.
Biological & Psychological Treatment of MDD
Students examine antidepressant mechanisms and CBT, evaluate Cassano et al., use concept cards to test treatment claims and consider how effectiveness is measured.