Chapter 3 Flashcards
Health Behaviour
Behaviour intended to enhance or maintain health.
Health habit
Health behaviour that is well established and often automatic. If you exercise a health behaviour enough, it becomes a health habit.
Health
A complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
What are the Alameda 7?
- Sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.
- Don’t smoke.
- Eat breakfast every day.
- Drink no more than 1 to 2 alcoholic drinks a day.
- Exercise regularly.
- Don’t eat between meals.
- Stay under 10% overweight for your height.
What is the bottom line of the Alameda County Study?
The more health habits you consistently practice (assuming at least 3 health practices) the longer your life expectancy.
Why bother with healthy behaviours?
- Disease and mortality prevention! The likelihood of developing diseases like heart disease, cancer, and/or having a strokes are greatly (~50%) influenced by lifestyle.
- Longevity
Who does healthy behaviours? Who doesn’t?
Predictors of healthy behaviour practice - categories of contributing factors: 1.) Demographic (socioeconomic status, age, and gender), 2.) Social (social influence and cultural values), 3.) Internal (personal values, personal goals, locus of control, and cognitive factors), and 4.) Location (environment and access to services).
Why is it hard to change health behaviours?
- Little immediate reinforcement.
- Enjoyment/comfort of unhealthy behaviours.
- Addiction to unhealthy behaviours.
- Negative perception of healthy behaviours.
- Low motivation from self-concept, illness, medication.
- Negative social influences.
- Environmental barriers
- Instability of health behaviours (Eg. When we are stressed, the first thing to go is the health behaviours. But when we are stressed, we especially need them!).
- Independence of health behaviours.
How can we change health behaviours?
- Motivational Appeals
- Health Belief Model
- Theory of Planned Behaviour
- Nonrational Processes
- Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change
- Cognitive Behavioural Processes
- Social and Systemic Approaches
Motivational Appeals
- Educational Appeals (give information and expect people to respond to it rationally. Not the best way to go about promoting change)
- Appeals to Fear (not as effective as we originally thought. Only works when certain criteria are in place. The threat has to be realistic, can’t overdo it or people discard it. You have to immediately connect it with a solution in order for it to work)
- Message Framing (any health message can be phrased in positive or negative terms, but matching the framing of the message with the health behaviour can impact the effectiveness of the message)
Health Belief Model
A theory of healthy behaviours; the model predicts that whether a person practises a particular health habit can be understood by knowing the degree to which the person perceives a personal health threat and the perception that a particular health practice will be effective in reducing that threat.
Theory of Planned Behaviour
Derived from the theory of reasoned action, this theoretical viewpoint maintains that a person’s behavioural intentions and behaviours can be understood by knowing the person’s attitudes about the behaviour, subjective norms regarding the behaviour, and perceived behavioural control over that action (perceived behavioural control is similar to self efficacy!).
Nonrational Processes
- Motivated Reasoning (finding a way to dismiss certain messages; eg. I won’t catch an STD from him because he is a good guy)
- False Hope (believing you are going to be successful despite any evidence)
- Willingness to Engage (best predictor of success - do I want to do it? If yes, I have a good chance of success. If no, I don’t have a good chance of success)
- Positive Affect (feeling good about the change about to be made)
- Conflict Theory
Conflict theory
- Challenge: Threat or Opportunity (Eg. I need to eat healthy)
- Appraisal of Risk
a.) No risk: No change made (Eg. I see no signs of risk as I am not overweight, therefore, I am not making any changes)
b.) Risk present: Proceed to make change (Eg. I see signs of risk as my doctor has told me that I am overweight, therefore, I am making changes)
Coping with decisional conflict depends on perceptions of risk, hope, and time availability.
Transtheoretical Model of Change (Stages of Change)
- Precontemplation (person is not ready to change)
- Contemplation (person knows they have to change somehow)
- Preparation (person is making a plan to change)
- Action (person does change)
- Maintenance (person keeps the change going)
Cognitive Behavioural Processes
- Self-Monitoring
- Modeling
- Operant Conditioning
- Skills Training
- Cognitive Restructuring
- Motivational Interviewing
- Implementation Intentions
Self-monitoring
Observing and evaluating target behaviours and their consequences in oneself. Used synonymously with self-observation.
Modelling
Learning gained from observing another person (the model) perform a target behaviour and experience outcomes from that behaviour.
Operant conditioning
- Self-reinforcement (systematically rewarding or punishing oneself; eg. getting yourself a sweat treat after completing an assignment)
- Contingency Contracting (contracting with another person to carry out reinforcement or punishment)
- Stimulus Control (removal of discriminative stimuli that trigger problem behaviour; eg. if you’re a smoker thats trying to quit smoking, you avoid being around other smokers and areas that might make you want to smoke)
Skills training
Behavioural methods that train individuals how to interact with others in a comfortable and relaxed manner.
Cognitive restructuring
- Modifying internal self-talk through monitoring and modifying cognitions.
- Aim is to reduce distress and self-sabotage while increasing inner peace and clarity.
Motivational interviewing
- Guiding the individual to examine their resistance to changing behaviour.
- Style is client-centered.
- Aim is cognitive change required for behavioural change.
Implementation intentions
- Simply specific plans. Behavioural intentions that give specifics about behavioural changes to be made.
- Aim: Behavioural Activation
- Eg. SMART Goals
SMART goals
- Specific: clearly identify the goal.
- Measurable: define the goal in measurable terms.
- Attainable: choose goals that are realistic and manageable.
- Relevant: make sure the goal is something that is important to you.
- Time-bound: define the time frame during which you will achieve the goal.
Self-efficacy
- An individual’s belief in their ability to perform the behaviours required to achieve specific outcomes.
- Different than self-confidence, which is global! Self-efficacy is specific activities/abilities.
- Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura)
What are some relapse predictors?
- Psychological (stress, mood disturbance)
- Social (positive: support to continue abstinence; negative: support to relapse for inclusion)
What are some relapse prevention approaches?
- Booster sessions follow-up treatment program.
- Lifelong vulnerability mentality.
- Relapse prevention built into treatment program (cue elimination, identify triggers and strategies, mental rehearsal of strategies).
- Build a fulfilling life.
Social and systematic approaches
- Family
- Schools
- Workplace
- Community
- Medical Clinics
- Media
- Internet
- Health Legislation
