ASBHDS Session 1 - Biopsychosocial Model and Social Context of Illness Flashcards
What were the key features of the biomedical model?
- Ilness was understood in terms of biological and physiological processes
- Treatment involved physical intervention (drugs, surgery)
Name 2 factors which have contributed to the advancement of healthcare.
- Medical advances
- Social improvements
Compare and contrast the common illnesses and causes of death at the start and end of the 20th century.
- Start of 20th century: TB, pneumonia, measles, diphtheria
- End of 20th century: Heart disease, cancer, stroke, respiratory disease (COPD)
Outline the different components of the biopsychosocial model.
Bio - physiology, genetics, pathogens
Psycho - cognition, emotion, behaviour
Social - social class, employment, social support
Outline the three different definitions of health.
Negative definition - health equates to the absence of illness
Functional definition - health is the ability to do certain things
Positive definition - health is a state of wellbeing and fitness
What are lay beliefs?
- How people understand and make sense of health and illness.
- Constructed by people with no specialised knowledge
- Socially embedded
- Draw on cultural, social and personal knowledge and experience and own biography
- Drawn from multiple sources (ie. complex)
Outline the interplay between lay beliefs and medical knowledge.
- The public is surrounded by professional concepts so it’s difficult for lay beliefs to develop independently
- Professional concepts are interpreted and made sense of in light of everyday life experience
The influence of lay beliefs on health behaviour results in 3 distinct behaviours. Outline them.
- Health behaviour - activity undertaken for the purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness
- Illness behaviour - activity of an ill person to define illness and seek solution
- Sick role behaviour - formal response to symptoms, including seeking formal help and action of person as a patient.
Outline the illness iceberg.
- Over a 2 week period, about 75% of people experience 1/more symptoms of ill health.
- Almost 50% of the symptoms, respondents did nothing.
- 35% of the symptoms resulted in the use of lay care
- 12% of the symptoms led to consultation with a primary care health professional
- Most symptoms never get to the doctor
Name the primary influences on illness behaviour.
- Culture
- Visibility of symptoms
- Frequency and persistence of symptoms
- Disruption of symptoms
- Tolerance threshold
- Information and understanding
- Availability of resources
- Lay referral
What is Lay Referral?
Lay referral: the chain of advice-seeking contacts which the sick make with other lay people prior to - or instead of - seeking help from healthcare professionals
Why is lay referral so important?
- Understand why people delayed before seeking help
- Understand how, why and when people consult a doctor
- Understand one’s role as a doctor in their health
- Understand the use of health services and medication
- Understand the use of alternative medicines
With reference to a case study such as Rheumatoid arthritis, name the 4 main themes influencing patients’ decisions to delay seeking medical advice.
- Symptom experience
- Symptom evaluation
- Knowledge or Rheumatoid Arthritis and treatments
- Experience of, and attitudes towards health professionals.
Name the three broad groups of patients when taking medication.
- “Deniers and distancers”
- “Accepters”
- “Pragmatists”
Adherence to medication and medical advice is tied to what three factors?
- People’s beliefs about the condition
- Their social circumstances
- Their social identity
