Ashley P. Duggan, PhD

Following her Fulbright Fellowship, Ashley continues both the content area in connecting relationship science and human communication with positive health sciences as well as the relationships with colleagues from the Centre for Positive Health Sciences at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) University of Medicine and Health Sciences. Positive health sciences provides a theoretical foundation for integrating medical and psychological approaches to health and wellbeing. Rooted in positive psychology, lifestyle medicine, health psychology, and coaching psychology, this interdisciplinary field integrates medical and psychological approaches to promote a dynamic and comprehensive journey toward positive health.

 

Positive Health Sciences highlights the necessary interplay between health psychology’s conceptual understanding of behaviour changes and health belief, positive psychology’s promotion of eudemonic and hedonic wellbeing for flourishing, lifestyle medicine’s evidence-based strategies, and individuals; internal mechanisms of change for fostering healthier lifestyles and reducing chronic disease risk. Together, they form a comprehensive framework of holistic positive health. Building on these theories, Positive Health Sciences integrates medical and psychological approaches to health and wellbeing.
 

By uniting the “mind” and the “body”, PHS enables professionals to view individuals as whole persons rather than fragmented parts. This field incorporates various evidence-based interventions to foster both eudemonic (realising personal potential) and hedonic (pleasure and satisfaction) wellbeing, along with physiological indicators of health (i.e. cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, and immunological parameters) and lifestyle factors (adequate sleep, regular physical activity, healthy eating, stress management, minimizing alcohol and tobacco, as well as cultivating positive relationships) that are essential for optimal human functioning.