Chapter 1: Introduction to Health Psychology Flashcards
Describe the course overview.
Health psych is a interdisciplinary field that harnesses emerging research in regards to connecting individual, community, societal health, and well being
- Gone are the days where viewing health and health related behaviours are upon the individual
- Understanding the outcomes and health related behaviour is important to answer modern health concerns
What must be examined in health psychology?
- Cultural and social dynamics
- Political and economic influences
- Challenge individualisti explanations of ill-health
- Macro- vs. micro-levels
What does the etymology of health emphasize?
Wholeness and naturalness as harmony and balance with nature
- Healing systems
What do you notice about the root definitions of health?
Bigger than just physical
- Spiritual
- Bigger meaning that individual selves
- Value
What is health? - World Health Organization
“Health is a state of complete physical, social and spiritual wellbeing, not simply the absence of illness”
What should we take away from the Pursuit of Happiness?
That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it.
Define Health - Textbook
Health is a state of well-being with satisfaction of physical, cultural, psychosocial, economic and spiritual needs, not simply the absence of illness”
Draw the Bronfenbrenner’s Model
Ecological model of health and well-being
- measures health in the environment and eco-systems
Define Health Psychology
An interdisciplinary field concerned with the application of psychological knowledge and techniques to health, illness, health promotion and health care
- Encompasses holist models of health such as the ecological model which connects individual health to larger socio-economic, cultural and political realities
- A multi-disciplinary field incorporating psychological, cultural, developmental, and social factors to understanding health = makes it generalizable
Draw out the Onion Model
- Illustrates the main determinants of health = that there is more than what is going on inside out head at the individual level
Define agency/autonomy
Freedom to choose
Define Spirituality
Feeling that not all that is significant is of the physical world
Define Quality of Life
Good and happy life
- Subjective
What is the Self-Determination Theory?
Suggests the 3 basic human needs:
- Competence
- Relatedness
- Autonomy
Define the bio-medical model
- Pros
- Cons
A branch of medical science that applies biological and other natural-science principles to clinical practise
- Pros: major scientific advances and diagnostic testing/prevention/treatment
- Cons: dualistic (sep. mind/body, disease oriented, fails to meet need of individual
What is individualism?
The belief that health is the result of making ‘healthy choices’ and thus a person is responsible for their own health
- Presumes that we have free choice and self determination
What is the problem with the individualistic model?
- Socio-economic situation
- Influential factors
Draw Maslow’s Hierarchy
- Cons?
Describes basic human needs
Meant to be universal but has many cons
- Health is attained if you achieve all of these needs, starting at the bottom and moving upward as the more basic needs are satisfied
- Doesn’t explain cases when people jump to higher levels
- Missing important elements – agency, autonomy (the freedom to choose), and spirituality
- Born with a disability = you can never reach the top, therefore you will never be healthy?
- Does not account for a variety of people
- Out of order for some (everyone is unique)
- Quantifies – how do you know how much you need to move onto the next level?
Challenges of the Hierarchy of needs?
Humans are diverse and so their needs aren’t fixed
-Missing elements (ex. Spiritual)
Missing spiritual and non/physical needs
A Eurocentric stance on human nature as selfish individualism.
Focuses on western society
Ignores Indigenous ways of understanding the world (e.g. Ubuntu; Tsawalk; Two row Wampum etc.)
- Individual survival > group survival
Define Subjective Well Being
Different valuations people make regarding their lives, bodies, minds and lives
- Ways in which we understand and conceptualize our health/well-being
- We value each aspect of our own life differently than others– different measures of satisfaction of health
Talk about The Spice Trade
- 3000 BC
- Controlled by Islamic Nations
- Were most expensive and in-demand products
- They excluded Europe to they tried to gain access from other side (did not think NA existed yet)
- Columbus “discovered” NA (cannot discover what was already found)
What happened when Europeans colonized North America?
Biological and germ warfare, which was used to target the health of Indigenous peoples of the Americas
- Indigenous people have never encountered these pathogens before = Led to a mass genocide (150y); The decimation of roughly 95% of the 70 – 100 million Indigenous peoples of the Americas = the greatest genocide the world has ever known
The commencement of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which lasted for 5 centuries (Slavery existed before this)
-Treated like animals and property, and breeded slaves
-20 million people were taken from Africa during the era of the transatlantic slave trade, and another 40 million perished in the miserable conditions at sea
What is the Transatlantic Slave Trade
1) Africa –> NA (Slaves)
2) NA –> Europe (plantation crops)
3) Europe –> Africa (Manufactured goods)
* Building North American empire = Move slaves to produce crops and products, and then manufactured good are created
What is a connection to make with colonization and health?
Colonization is a determinant of health
- Wealth
- Economy
- NA empire grew off of free labour
- “While stepping on other people we grew”
What is the take-away from the Epidemiological Transition video?
- Economic equality determines health
- Drastic difference between countries
- Possibility for everyone to make it to the wealthy corner
