Biomedical/ Biopsychosocial models of healthcare Flashcards
What defined the Biomedical model of illness?
Dominant in Western healthcare since 16th/ 17thcentury
•Attributes illness to a single cause located within the body
•Considers disturbances of mental processes as a separate and unrelated set of problems
•Played a key role in prolonging life expectancy
•Resulted in great advances in diagnosis & treatment of some debilitating & life-threatening illnesses
What was Engel’s critique of the Biomedical model?
“left no room… for social, psychological and behavioural dimensions of illness”
What defines the Biopsychosocial model of illness?
•A systems approach
The health professional should integrate information from:
•Human / psychological level (e.g. individual beliefs, mood, behaviour)
•Biological level (e.g. age, disease)
•Social level (relationships, community)
•Illness results from an interaction of causes
•Psychological alterations may manifest as illnesses
What causes illness?
BM- Biological factors (chemical imbalances, bacteria, viruses and genetic predisposition)
BPS- Biological (virus), psychological (beliefs, behaviour) and social (unemployment)
Who is responsible for illness?
BM- Individuals are regarded as victims of some external force causing internal changes. Because illness is seen as a result of biological changes beyond their control, individuals are not seen as responsible for their illness
BPS- Health and illness are considered in terms of the person ‘as a whole’. People have agency over aspects of their own health, but are also susceptible to influences beyond their control
How should illness be treated?
BM- Through vaccination, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, all of which aim to change the physical state of the body
BPS- The whole person should be treated, e.g. behaviour change, change in beliefs and coping strategies and compliance with medical recommendations
Who is responsible for the treatment?
BM- The responsibility for treatment rests with the medical profession
BPS- The focus is the whole person to be treated not just their physical illness; the patient should be supported to be responsible for their treatment (e.g. taking the medication or changing their behaviour)
What is the relationship between health and illness?
BM- Health and illness are seen as qualitatively different –you are either healthy or ill –there is no continuum between the two
BPS- Health and illness exist on a continuum. Individuals progress along the continuum from health to illness and back again
What is the relationship between the mind and the body?
BM- The mind and body function independently of each other. In other words, the mind and body are separate entities
BPS- The focus is on interaction between the mind and the body. The mind and body interact.
What is the role of psychology in health and illness?
BM- Physical illness may have psychological consequences, but not psychological causes (e.g. cancer may cause unhappiness, but mood is not seen as related to either the onset or progression of the cancer)
BPS- Psychological factors not only as possible consequences of illness but as contributing to it at all stages along the continuum from healthy to being ill
What relevance does the BPS model have to practice?
Healthcare professionals should consider all information about a patient (social, biological and psychological)
.•Illness results from an interaction of many factors
•Psychological alterations may, under certain circumstances, manifest as (physical or psychological) illness
•The biomedical view of illness doesn’t help us to appreciate the meaning of the symptoms to the patient
•Psychosocial variables are important determinants of susceptibility, severity and course of illness
•The biopsychosocial model underpins the ‘patient-centred’ approach, which influences medical outcomes, e.g. via adherence to treatment
