Case 2- health behaviours and epidemeology Flashcards
Patient self care
The actions that an individual tales for themselves, on behalf of and with others to develop, protect, maintain and improve their health, wellbeing and wellness. Such as exercise, brushing your teeth and over the counter medication
Disease
An organic pathology or abnormality. A disease is a result of a causative agent (pathogen) on a susceptible organism, and its biological consequences. Can often be diagnosed due to arbitrary lines in the sand, for example, a certain haemoglobin percentage.
Illness
A subjective experience of, and meaning attributed to, ill health by the patient and those around them. May or may not have a biological basis.
Sickness
The social experience of ill health. What happens when the illness is acknowledged outwardly. It is linked to stigma.
Views on health
Culturally and socially driven. You may think something is normal because its prevalent in your culture. Gender can effect it as well as age, someone who is older may not be concerned about back pain. Can be associated with the medical, functional and idealist model of health
Medical model of health
Health is the absence of disease, illness and injury. Very generic terms, what do they mean. It’s a negative definition.
Functional (social) model of health
Health is the ability to function in normal social roles. What is a normal social role? may vary between patients
Idealist model of health
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of a disease or infirmity. Unattainable for most. Links to bio-psycho social model.
Iceberg of health
The ice above sea level is the amount of people who see the doctor, so not many. Whilst the ice under the water is the number of people who have symptoms and did something else about it, for example take paracetamol or ask a friend for advice. Most ill health is stuff doctors never see.
Zola’s concepts- consulting behaviour
Most people have symptoms of some kind all the time. The frequency and/ or seriousness of the symptoms are not good predictors of attendance at the doctors. Most people make decisions to seek help that are rational, at least when framed in terms of the patients own beliefs and values.
Health belief model
Assumes that people are largely rational in their thoughts and actions. And will take the best health supporting action if they:
1) Feel that it is possible to address a negative health issue.
2) Believe that taking the proposed action will be effective in addressing the issue.
3) Believe that they are able to take the proposed action.
Why might someone not visit a doctor
Don’t think the treatment will be effective, think it will be painful. You dont want to confirm an illness. We have to know someone’s health beliefs to understand why they do certain actions. Health beliefs can override triggers to consult
Zola’s triggers to consult
- Interpersonal crisis- you may not be doing well at work and the last thing you want to deal with is your migraines.
- Perceived interference with social or personal relations
- “Sanctioning”- pressure from others to consult
- Perceived interference with vocational or physical activity
- “Temporalizing of symptomatology”- if its not better by next week I’ll go to the doctor.
Quantitative research
Uses objective measures to reach a conclusion, the data collected is numerical results. Simple statistics are used to analyse the data and there is often a large sample size
Qualitative research
Aims to collect subjective, non-numerical data. Aims to capture the deeper meaning behind something through data collection methods such as face to face interview or direct observations. The data can not be analysed using simple statistics, instead more descriptive methods are used. Aims to capture ideas, perceptions and behaviours.
When to use quantitative research
When collecting data