5) Lay Beliefs Flashcards
What are lay beliefs?
How people with no medical knowledge understand and make sense of health and illness
How can lay beliefs impact on behaviour?
Effect on managing health, seeking help when ill and impact on adherence
What is the negative definition of health?
Health equates to the absence of illness (lower socioeconomic groups)
What is the functional definition of health?
Health is the ability to do certain things (elderly and lower socioeconomic)
What is the positive definition of health?
Health is a state of wellbeing and fitness (higher socioeconomic)
What is lay epidemiology?
Understand why and how illness happens
Why it has happened to a particular person at a particular time
Why is the candidate system fallible?
Not always typical person that gets illness
Randomness and fate
What is a health behaviour?
Activity undertaken for purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness
What is an illness behaviour?
Activity of ill person to define illness and seek solution
What is sick role behaviour?
Formal response to symptoms e.g. seeking help and action
Why are higher social class more likely to give up poor health behaviours?
Positive definition of health so incentives to give up poor behaviour
Why are lower social class less likely to give up poor health behaviours?
Have a focus on improving immediate environment, use as coping mechanism and may be normalised behaviour
What is the symptom/illness iceberg?
Symptoms that never get to the doctor
What influences illness behaviour?
Culture Visibility/salience of symptoms Extent to which symptoms disrupt life Freq. and persistence of symptoms Tolerance Info., understanding and resources
What is lay referral?
Chain of active seeking contacts which the sick make with other lay people prior or instead of seeking help by HCPs
