5. From Habits to Health: The Study of Behaviour Flashcards
L-5 Health Tips?
- What you do on a daily basis matters. (matters even more as you get older, you can reverse the damage you do when younger).
- WHY you do it is complicated…
- In crises of public health, consider how your choices affect others. (empathy linked to even more health precations)
- Vaccines are complicated, too, but they shouldn’t be…
Reminder:
The Leading Causes of Death in Canada…
What are some things they share in common?
- Cancer
- Diseases of the heart
- Covid
- Accidents
- Chronic illnesses are more common than acute.
- Some of the main contributing factors to these diseases are behavioural.
-> Behaviour matters!
The Role of Behaviour in Health…
We know that people’s usual health related behaviours (their “health habits”) influence their likelihood of developing chronic and fatal diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS
(WHO, 2019).
Therefore illness and early death could be…But….?
Illness and early death could be substantially reduced if people would adopt lifestyles that promote wellness, such as eating healthy diets, exercising, not smoking, and being safe (whether in the sun or in sex).
But the typical person’s lifestyle includes many behaviours that are risk factors for illness and injury.
Health Behaviours Definition?
Activities that people perform to maintain or improve health
(or prevent disease and illness), regardless of health status or
whether the activity actually improves health.
- If a person believes the behiurs is benefitting their health, even if it doesn’t, it counts as a health behvour.
(Health habit is any type of behaviour good or bad)
People’s health status can affect the type of health behaviour
they perform and their motivation to do it… Well Behaviour?
= any activity people undertake to maintain or improve current good health and avoid illness.
E.g., eating a healthy diet, exercising, getting vaccinated.
People’s health status can affect the type of health behaviour
they perform and their motivation to do it… Symptom-Based Behaviour?
= any activity ill people undertake to
determine the problem and find a remedy.
E.g., complaining about symptoms, seeking advice.
Mom looking for what is wrong with her leg, before she knew it was MS.
People’s health status can affect the type of health behaviour
they perform and their motivation to do it… Sick-Role Behaviour?
= any activity people undertake to treat or adjust
to a health problem.
E.g., adhering to medical advice, staying home from school/work.
Mom using the super-suit to manage her MS.
Many Health Compromising Behaviours, mention a few?
+ It is important to recognize that?
- Physical Inactivity
- Poor Diet & Nutrition
- Cigarette Smoking
- Alcohol Consumption
- Unprotected Sex
- Excessive Sun Exposure
- Poor Sleep Habits
- Infrequent Handwashing
- Poor Oral Hygiene
- Not Seeking Medical Care
- Poor Road Safety
etc.
It is important to recognize that eating disorders and addictions are very different from other things. They are much more clinic and serve and cannot be considered a health habit.
The Alameda County Study (1965
1999)
Investigated the link between lifestyle & health. N = 6,928 followed for 20 years.
Identified 7 risk factors (health habits) associated with poor physical health and increased mortality.
Which were they in order of significance? + Always consider?
- smoking cigarettes
- drinking excessive amounts of alcohol (3-4 drinks at a time/twice a month)
- being obese
- being physically inactive
- eating between meals
- not eating breakfast (people who are not eating breakfast, are generally not eating healthy)
- sleeping fewer or more than 7-8 hours/night (excessive sleeping does reduce your life expectancy, sleeping a lot is correlated with more sedentary behaviour)
Always consider confounding factors, and contextualize the findings.
U.S. Health & Retirement Study (1992-2014)
Puterman et al. (2020)
Analyzed data from 13,611 American adults between 1992 and 2008.
Among 57 factors (social, behavioural, economic), the 10 most closely associated with death between 2008 and 2014 were?
(in order of significance)
- current smoker (interactive effects -> worsens the effect of other substances you might be using)
- history of divorce
- history of alcohol abuse
- recent financial difficulties
- history of unemployment
- previous history as a smoker
- lower life satisfaction
- never married
- history of food stamps
- negative affectivity
The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology
(PURE) Study (2002-)
N = 500,000 adults from 27 countries, including Canada.
Examining health outcomes and risks associated with a variety of health habits and behaviours?
- Higher total mortality was associated with higher intakes of… and lower…?
- 1 healthy and 1 unhealthy things to consume?
- Higher total mortality was associated with higher carbohydrate intake (simple carbohydrates & sugar) and lower total fat intake (transfat is the only unhealthy fat, found in processed and fried food, other sources of fat, in moderation, is healthy).
- Higher fruit, vegetable, and legume consumption was associated with a lower risk of mortality.
- Higher intake of ultra processed food was associated with higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease (not mortality).
Primary Prevention Definition?
Primary prevention involves actions taken to
avoid disease or injury (or prevent onset of illness).
E.g., exercise, wearing seatbelt, flossing, immunization/vaccination, handwashing, physical distancing, wearing mask (as in pandemic)
- Can technically be undertaken by either the individual or society (adding cloride to drinking water).
- vs. secondary and tertiary prevention.
Secondary Prevention Definition?
Actions that intend to identify illness and treat illness early on, goal of overcoming the problem.
Example, testing for detecting cancer bc you already have it if found.
Tertiary Prevention Definition?
When you cannot be fully cured, can only maintain or prevent further degradation.
Health promotion initiatives definition?
Health promotion initiatives (e.g., providing information about how to stay healthy) are often aimed at primary prevention.
Successfully promoting wellness depends on a variety of factors. Mention 2 overreching factors?
Factors primarily occurring within the individual and the individual’s social context.
Factors in the community, including public service announcements (PSAs) and psychosocial interventions.
Health Belief Model
The likelihood that a person will perform some health behaviour depends on the outcome of two assessments the person makes.
Which are these two?
(1) the threat associated with a health problem (perception)
(2) pros and cons of taking action
Widely supported across various health behaviours (e.g., dental visits vaccinations, exercise programs).
Main criticism of the Health Belief Model?
It is incomplete, other factors determines people’s health-related behaviours.
Health Belief Model, breakdown?
Perceived Threat (Belief in Health
Threat):
- Perceived Seriousness
- Perceived Vulnerability
- Cues to Action/Reminders (example, from health provider)
Perceived Benefits and Barriers:
- Perceived “Pros & Cons”
- Belief that Benefits outweigh Costs (sum = benefits – barriers)
- For example too expensive, too much effort
These two conbined leas to the ->
Likelihood of Performing the Health Behaviour
Health Belief Model Applied to Flu Vaccination?
“I haven’t had a flu shot, which puts me at risk of getting sick from the flu.”
- Perceived severity of / vulnerability to the flu.
- Cues to action from physicians about flu shot.
“I believe the flu shot works. I don’t believe the flu shot can give you the flu.”
- Perceived “Pros & Cons”
- Belief that the flu shot is effective, belief that it is not harmful (risks low).
-> Likelihood of Getting Flu Vaccine
Perceived Risk & Optimism
Can perceiving physiological risk be harmful psychologically?
According to Cognitive Adaptation Theory…
According to Cognitive Adaptation Theory, those who do not fully accept their physiological risk may have better mental health -> and be better able to cope with risk.
E.g., Taylor et al. (1992) found that HIV positive men who inaccurately, but optimistically, believed that they could halt the progression of AIDS practiced better health habits than those who were pessimistic.
How can we reconcile the findings of optisim and better health habits with research
on unrealistic optimism (i.e., the finding that people who are unrealistically optimistic take less preventive action)?
- The perceived risk can be overwhelming. Fear can make people avoid health behaviours altogether.
- Agency, can my health behaviours affect the outcome.
- Too much or too little optimism is the problem, inverted U-correlation to health behaviours.
Also, keep in mind we are dealing with very different populations. In disease management optimism is good.
Whereas in primary intervention it might not be as beneficial in promoting health behaviours.
Theory of Planned Behaviour, gengerally?
Health behaviour is the direct result of
behavioural intentions, which are
influenced by 3 key factors.
Widely supported across various health
behaviours (e.g., exercising, smoking,
cancer screening, losing weight,
donating blood).
Theory of Planned Behaviour
3 factors determine one’s intention to perform a behaviour?
- Attitude Regarding the Behaviour Behaviour: Judgment of whether the behaviour is good or bad. “I hate exercise!”
- Subjective Norm Norm: Appropriateness or acceptability of behaviour (based on beliefs about others’ opinions, social norms).
- Perceived Behavioural Control Control: Expectation of success.
Similar to self-efficacy: belief that one can execute a course of action, achieve a goal; correlated with performance/success.
