Contributions of social psychology to the analysis and solution of problems in the German health care system. The example of practice guidelines

The German health care system is facing radical changes. One way to solve its many problems and to rationalize health care is seen in clinical practice guidelines that describe up-to-date treatment modalities and support physicians in their decision-making. It will be shown that guideline development has been quite successful in recent years because the methodology draws on many findings from group psychology. In contrast, the acceptance and implementation of guidelines is hampered by the neglect of many motivational phenomena. It is argued that social psychology possesses rich methodological and conceptual tools to analyse and solve problems in the health care area. Failure to recognize this potential is in part due to poor marketing of social psychology.