Marlyn Thomas, a PhD scholar at the Centre for Health Psychology, University of Hyderabad (UoH), won the Best Paper award in a scientific session (Mental Health and Development) at the annual conference of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology held last week (May 22-24, 2013) at the Karnatak University, Dharwad. Her paper titled, “Ushering Psychologists into Healthcare: The Case of Cognitive Impairment in Heart Failure”, proposed a model to explain about the relevant contributions that Health Psychologists can make towards assessing and intervening with cognitive impairment which is seen among many patients with heart failure.
In keeping with the theme of the conference, “Application of Psychological Training to face the Challenges of Changing World”, the paper highlighted the indispensable role of Health Psychologists in the Indian healthcare to provide timely and economical mental health services.
Marlyn Thomas is in her first year of the doctoral programme in Psychology at the Centre for Health Psychology, and is pursuing research in the area of Behavioural Cardiology.