Common Sense Model of Illness

Question 1

What is meant by self-regulation ?

Answer 1

‘Problem-solving’
Identification of the goal
Selecting strategy and implement
Did the strategy achieve goal OR not

Question 2

Sources of health-related goals and messages (CSM)

Answer 2

Messages from our body
Messages from outside

Question 3

List some messages from our body

Answer 3

Mood/emotions
Physical sensations, symptoms

Question 4

List some messages from outside our body

Answer 4

Diagnosis
Illness running in the family
Test results

Question 5

Goal of the CSM

Answer 5

To maintain or return to our normal/healthy state

Question 6

Steps involved in the concept of self-regulation

Answer 6

Interpretation -Try to make sense of ‘messages’
Coping - Select methods to cope with threat
Appraisal - Evaluation of effectiveness

Question 7

Assumptions of the common sense model

Answer 7

Patient as a common-sense scientist/physician.

Patients regulate their experiences, symptoms and changes over time.

Self-regulation as problem solving.

Question 8

What does the CSM framework serve to do ?

Answer 8

Understand :

• People’s perceptions of health and illness
• People’s reactions to health threats, and how they think about their illness representation.
• How people cope with illness

Question 9

What do health threats generate ?

Answer 9

A representation of illness risk —> danger control –> appraisal

Emotional reactions (e.g. fear, worry) –> fear control –> appraisal

Question 10

Parts of the CSM

Answer 10

Cognitive
Emotional

Question 11

Components of Illness representations (IMPOTRANT)

Answer 11

Identity
Perceived cause
Timeline
Consequences
Curability / controllability

Question 12

What is meant by illness representations ?

Answer 12

Patient’s common sense beliefs about their illness

Question 13

Identity

Answer 13

Symptoms experienced by the person as well as the person’s label for the disease.

Symptoms can be abstract (the diagnosis) and perceptual (the symptoms).

Question 14

Cause

Answer 14

Perceived cause of illness,
e.g. biological (virus etc), or psychosocial

Question 15

Timeline

Answer 15

Patient’s belief about how long the illness will last, whether it’s acute, chronic or cyclical.

Question 16

Consequences

Answer 16

Patient’s perceptions of the possible effects of the illness on their life.

e.g. physical, emotional, financial, social

Question 17

Cure/Controllability

Answer 17

Patient’s beliefs about whether illness can be cured and the extent to which the outcome of their illness is controllable (by themselves or by powerful others)

Question 18

Uses of the CSM

Answer 18

Patient’s illness representation/mental model has been shown to predict health behaviours such as medication adherence.

Question 19

What has the common sense model been used and supported by research on ?

Answer 19

Hypertension
Asthma
Myocardial infarction
Diabetes
Huntingtons disease
CFS

Question 20

Hypertension

Answer 20

A silent, asymptomatic condition (challenge identity)

Requires long-term adoption of a variety of prescribed behaviours (e.g. medication taking, weight loss, diet change)

Not adhering to medical regimens is very common, so hypertension is poorly controlled.

Question 21

Statistics relating to hypertension

Answer 21

Only 12.5% of the people with hypertension are adequately controlled.

1/2 the people with hypertension don’t know it
1/2 of those who are diagnosed are not in treatment

Question 22

CSM founders

Answer 22

Leventhal sand colleagues

Question 23

3 types of timeline

Answer 23

Acute
Chronic
Cyclic

Question 24

Acute

Answer 24

The disease will be cured

Question 25

Chronic

Answer 25

The disease will stay for a lifetime

Question 26

Cyclic

Answer 26

The disease will come and go

Question 27

Asthma CSM

Answer 27

Patients beliefs may be :

Presence of symptoms —> Take medication
Absence of symptoms —> No medication

Question 28

What was the asthma CSM used to test ?

Answer 28

No symptoms, no asthma: self-regulation, knowledge, beliefs and behaviours amongst inner city adults.

Question 29

What was the myocardial infarction CSM used to test ?

Answer 29

Role of the patient’s view of their illness in predicting return to work and functioning after myocardial infarction.

Question 30

Chronic timeline

Answer 30

Slower return to work and social duties

Question 31

Importance of evaluating a patient’s illness perceptions

Answer 31

Assessment of illness perceptions may have a valuable role in identifying which patients ate likely to benefit from rehabilitation programmes.

Question 32

What was the brief in-hospital intervention ?

Answer 32

Expanding patient’s casual models of MI beyond just stress

Beliefs about consequences were discussed

Symptoms and medications were discussed

Question 33

Early intervention of MI results

Answer 33

Returning to work sooner
Fewer symptoms of angina