4.1 Lay Beliefs about Health and Illness Flashcards
What is a lay belief?
How people understand and make sense of health and illness when they have no specialist knowledge
Why can lay beliefs and medical knowledge be different?
Lay beliefs based on cultural beliefs
Lack of knowledge
May not understand medical definitions
What is sociological health?
Your perceived control over your own health and your ability to lead a normal life.
What is a negative definition of health?
The absence of illness
What is a functional definition of health?
The ability to do certain things
What is a positive definition of health?
A state of wellbeing and fitness
Why can lay epidemiology be hard to understand?
May not understand how and why an illness occurs
May not understand why the illness occurred at that time
Some people with risk factors are not affected
Some people with no risk factors get the illness
What is ‘health behaviour’?
An activity undertaken for the purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness
What is ‘illness behaviour’?
Activity of an ill person to define their illness and seek a solution
What is ‘sick role behaviour’?
Formal response to symptoms including seeking formal help and the person becoming a patient.
What is an illness iceberg?
Most symptoms in a population do not get seen by a doctor
List some factors which affect health behaviour
Culture Visibility of symptoms Affect on life Lay referral- friends/family initial opinion Frequency of symptoms Tolerance threshold Understanding
What is lay referral?
People discuss their symptoms with friends or look on the internet before (or instead of) seeing a doctor
Why is lay referral a problem?
Causes delays between initial symptoms and presenting to the GP
May have trouble linking own symptoms to a serious disease (eg. if they do not fit the usual stereotype of a disease)
What is a ‘distancer’ of a disease?
Someone who suffers from a disease but claims to not have it “very badly” or “properly”
