The advantages and disadvantages of health screening. The contribution of psychology to health screening. Health screening, according to Durojaiye, (2009), is a systematic application of a test or survey to identify individuals at risk for a specific health problem. This allows for further investigation or direct preventative action among people who have not sought medical care due to symptoms of that problem. Screening is different from diagnosis because it is performed on people without symptoms; it does not provide a diagnosis but rather identifies individuals at increased risk for follow-up diagnostic testing. Therefore, the main purpose of the screening program is to identify diseases or risk factors in the general population, in order to carry out a preventive or therapeutic intervention since the maximum benefit that can be drawn from a specific treatment is when the disease is less advanced (Trevena, 2009). There are numerous benefits expected from health screening and much research has demonstrated the benefits that health screening offers to the healthcare industry. However, in recent years research is emerging with a focus on the opportunity cost of health screening. As a result, many scholars have indicated that there are a significant number of disadvantages associated with health screening. This essay explores the benefits and disadvantages of health screening and highlights the contribution of psychology to health screening. Wardle and Pope (1992) state that evaluating the benefits of health screening can be very difficult. This is mainly due to the fact that premature death due to chronic diseases, for example breast and cervical cancer, is relatively rare and consequently very large. sam...... middle of paper ......ammography: Cochrane Database Syst Rev (Problem 4): the art. No.: CD001877. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.Skravanek, P. (1988). The mass mammography debate in Britain: Br Med J; 297: 1542. Stewart-Brown, S. and Farmer, A. (1997) Screening could seriously harm health BMJ; 314: 533Stoate, H. G. (1989). Can health screening harm your health? J Roy Co11 Gen Professionals; 39:193-195.Trevena L. (2009) Cancer screening Reprinted by the Australian GP: School of Public Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales. vol. 38, No. 4Tymstra, T. (1986) False positive results in screening tests: experiences of parents of children screened for congenital hypothyroidism, Oxford University Press Vol3, No. 2Wardle, J. and Pope, R. (1992) The Psychological Costs of Cancer Screening, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol. 36, no. 7, pp. 609-624.