Ch 1 Flashcards
How do dictionaries define health?
the absence of objective signs that the body is not functioning properly and subjective symptoms of disease or injury
Illness/wellness continuum
a model that describes health and wellness as overlapping concepts that vary in degree, rather than being in separate categories; ranges from death to optimal wellness
WHO definition of health
a positive state of complete physical, mental/emotional, and social well-being, and not simply the absence of injury or disease, that varies over time along a continuum
2 most common types of illnesses in North America during the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries
dietary and infectious diseases
Dietary vs infectious diseases
dietary diseases result from malnutrition while infectious diseases are acute illnesses caused by harmful matter or microorganisms in the body (e.g. bacteria or viruses)
Main cause of death in Canada and other developed countries
chronic or degenerative diseases like heart disease, cancer, and stroke that develop or persist over time
2 reasons why chronic diseases are expected to increase
more people are living to the age where they are at high risk for contracting them and the growth of industrialization increases exposure to harmful chemicals
Biomedical model
proposes that all diseases or physical disorders can be explained by disturbances in physiological processes resulting from injury, biochemical imbalances, bacterial or viral infection, etc.
Assumption of the biomedical model
disease is an affliction of the body and is separate from the psychological and social processes of the mind
Risk factors
characteristics or conditions associated (not necessarily cause) with the development of a disease or injury
5 leading causes of death in Canada
cancer, heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), accidents (e.g. motor vehicle)
Risk factors of cancer
smoking, high alcohol consumption, obesity
Risk factors of heart disease
smoking, high blood pressure, high dietary cholesterol, obesity, lack of exercise
Risk factors of stroke
smoking, high blood pressure, high dietary cholesterol, lack of exercise
Personality
a person’s cognitive, affective, or behavioural tendencies that are fairly stable across time and situations
Psychosomatic medicine
a field introduced in the 1930s to study the relationships between people’s symptoms of illness and their emotions
2 fields that emerged in the 1970s to study the role of psychology in illness
behavioral medicine and healthy psychology
Behavioral medicine
interdisciplinary field involving psychology, sociology, and various areas of medicine that grew out of the behaviorism perspective
What are the 2 types of learning that behavior stems from according to behaviorism?
classical or respondent conditioning and operant conditioning
Biofeedback
a person’s physiological processes are monitored by themself in order to gain voluntary control over them
4 goals of health psychology
to promote and maintain health; prevent and treat illness; identify the causes and diagnostic correlates of health, illness, and related dysfunction; analyze and improve healthcare systems and policies
Biopsychosocial model
proposes that biological, psychological, and social factors both affect and are affected by a person’s health
Cognition
mental activity that encompasses perceiving, learning, remembering, thinking, interpreting, believing, and problem solving
Emotion
a subjective feeling that affects and is affected by our thoughts, behavior, and physiology
Motivation
the process within individuals that gets them to start some activity, choose its direction, and persist in it
System
a dynamic entity with components that are continuously interrelated
Culture
the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people who share a similar context
Ethnicity
people who identify with each other based on shared nation or homeland, society, culture, language, history and ancestry
Race
a socially constructed label or category based largely on physical characteristics like skin color; can overlap with ethnicity
Gender identity
a person’s deeply felt sense of being female or male, man or woman, or neither
Sexual orientation
one’s sexual and emotional attraction to others based on their sex and gender
Gender
the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex
3 main characteristics of differences in socioeconomic status
income, occupational prestige, and education
Lifespan perspective
characteristics of a person are considered with respect to their prior development, current level, and likely development in the future
Mortality
the occurrence of death on a large scale or in a population due to a specific cause in a given period of time
Morbidity
occurrence of a specific illness, injury, disability or any detectable departure from wellness in a population
Prevalence
the number of cases of a disease, illness, or disability (both continuing cases and new cases) at a given moment in time
Incidence
the number of new cases of a disease, illness, or disability reported during a specific period of time
Epidemic
situation wherein the incidence, generally of an infectious disease, has increased rapidly
Pandemic
situation wherein the incidence, generally of an infectious disease, has increased rapidly
Health psychology is the the aggregate of the educational, scientific, and professional contributions of psychology to…
the promotion and maintenance of health; the prevention and treatment of illness; the identification of etiologic and diagnostic correlates of health, illness, and related dysfunction; and the improvement of the healthcare system
Cartesian dualism
the mind and the body are made of distinct substances and exist independently, thus cannot be treated together
Biomedical reductionism
every disease process could be explained in terms of an underlying deviation from normal functioning (e.g. pathogen, genetic or developmental abnormality)
What are considered chronic conditions?
have a lack of known cures and quick fixes; can live with them but quality of life is affected; requires expensive healthcare
3 common criticisms of the biopsychosocial model
(1) unclear boundaries between biology, psychology, and society; (2) too inclusive; (3) its adoption in healthcare is limited by physicians’ knowledge/training
3 important lessons from psychology
(1) person-situation interaction should always be considered; (2) causal density is high; (3) human behavior is complex
Disease
an abnormal condition affecting an organism or part of an organism due to infection, injury/trauma, behavior, etc.
Illness
feelings that may come with having a disease like pain, fatigue, weakness, etc; the reason people seek care
Disorder
an abnormality of function due to genetic abnormalities, behaviors, stressors (e.g. cystic fibrosis, deafness)
Syndrome
a set of symptoms or conditions that occur together and suggest the presence of a certain disease or increased risk
