10-11-21 - Common Sense Model (CSM) of Illness

Question 1

Learning Outcomes

Answer 1

• Construct Leventhal’s Common Sense Model of Self-regulation of health and illness (by identifying the parallel pathways in people’s reactions to health threats.)
• Identify the components of illness representations (illness beliefs).
• Identify the steps involved in the concept of self-regulation.
• Identify the assumptions of Common Sense Model

Question 2

What are 3 health related messages from our body?

What are 3 health-related messages from outside?

Answer 2

• Messages from our body:

1) Concentrate, perceptual experiences
2) Physical sensations – symptoms
3) Moods/emotions

• Messages from outside:

1) Diagnosis
2) Illness running in the family
3) Test results

Question 3

What are 3 basic assumptions of the Common-Sense Model?

Answer 3

1) Patients are considered common sense scientist/physician i.e patients are experts of their own health
2) Patients regulate their experiences, symptoms and changes over time
3) Self-regulation is used for problem solving

Question 4

What is the structure of the Common Sense Model (CSM)?

Answer 4

• Health threats generate emotional states and also cognitive representations of the illness risk
• Cognitive relates to cognitions: beliefs, thoughts our attitudes
• When individuals have theses cognitions, they seek ways to control and deal with them
• This is about how we cope with a health threat
• Appraisal after implementing coping mechanism – we evaluate the coping method
• After appraisal, patients may seek help, alter coping mechanisms, or change behaviour

Question 5

How are is illness representation also referred to in the model?

What do these terms mean?

Answer 5

•	Illness representation is also referred to as:
Illness cognitions
•	Illness perceptions
•	Illness beliefs
•	Mental models 

• These terms refer to the patient’s common-sense beliefs about their illness

Question 6

What are the 5 different components of illness representation?

Answer 6

1) Identity
• Symptoms experienced by the person, as well as the persons label for the disease
• E.g I have a cold with – diagnosis (abstract)
• Running nose and cough – symptoms (perceptual)

2) Consequences
• Patient’s perceptions of the possible effects of the illness on their life e.g physical, emotional, financial, social
• E.g My cold will prevent me from going to the social on Friday night, which swill stop me from seeing my friends

3) Timeline
• Patient’s beliefs about how long the illness will last
• Might be:
• Acute – disease will be cured
• Chronic – disease will stay for a life time
• Cyclic – the disease will come and go
• E.g my cold will be over in a couple of days (acute timeline)

4) Cause
• Perceived cause of illness
• May be biological (e.g virus) or psychosocial
• E.g my cold was caused by a virus
• E.g I got a cold because I was very stressed and run down

5) Cure/controllability
• Patients’ belief about whether illness can be cured
• Also, the extent to which the outcome of their illness is controllable
• E.g if I rest and drink lots of fluids, my cold will go away
• E.g If I go get medicine from my doctor, my cold will go away