Coping with illness and treatment Flashcards
Define stress.
A condition that results when the patient/environment transactions lead the individual to perceive a discrepancy between the demands of the situation and the coping resources available
Describe the application of stress to hospitalisation for medical/surgical procedures.
For patients, there are mental demands of the threat of wellbeing from hospitalisation (pain, severity etc.) and there may be limited coping resources as there is little they can do to help themselves.
What are the two types of information that can be provided to patients before a medical intervention?
Procedural Information – information about the procedures to be undertaken Sensory Information – information about the sensations that may be experienced
What is the term given to the provision of both procedural information and sensory information before a procedure?
Dual process hypothesis
What is the reasoning behind this hypothesis?
Procedural information allows patients to match on-going events with expectations in a non-emotional manner
Sensory information works by mapping a non-threatening interpretation onto these expectations
What are the two types of coping with stress?
Problem focussed coping Emotion focussed coping
Define and give examples of problem-focussed coping.
Efforts directed at changing the environment in some way or changing one’s own actions or attitudes Examples: seeking health information, finding out more about the procedures, pacing activity, changing behaviour
Define and give examples of emotion-focussed coping.
Efforts designed to manage the stress-related emotional responses in order to maintain one’s own morale and allow one to function Examples: meditation, relaxation techniques, deep breathing, distraction, praying
What study looked at the effect of information given vs the individual desire for information and what did the results show?
Auerbach 1983 – looked at the relationship between the amount of information and distress Patients undergoing a dental extraction were given either specific or general information about the procedure
HIGH desire for information – less distress with specific information
LOW desire for information – less distress with general information
What are the strategies for helping children cope with treatment?
Tell, Show, Do
Tell – using simple language and a matter-of-fact style, the child is told what is going to happen before the procedure
Show – the procedure is demonstrated on an inanimate object, a member of staff or the dentist himself
Do – procedure does not begin until the child understand what will be done – prompt distraction strategies
Describe the influence of parental behaviour on children.
Children’s distress correlates with the amount of distress shown by the parents Parental behaviour explains the greatest amount of variability in children’s medical distress Maternal behaviour has a much larger effect on GIRLS compared to boys (little or no effect in boys)
Representations- Leventhal (5 Dimensions)
Identity (my cold is getting worse)
Cause (I got a cold because I haven’t been sleeping well)
Consequences (I wont be able to do sport because of my cold)
Timeline (my cold will be gone in a few days)
Curability/Controlability (if I rest, my cold will resolve)
