Health Behaviours Flashcards
What is health related behaviours
Anything that may promote good health or lead to illness e.g. smoking, drinking and taking exercise
Why the concern about behaviours
At least one third of all disease burden in developed world is caused by tobacco, alcohol, blood pressure, cholesterol and obesity
What are the stats related to behavioural risk factors
Tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are responsible for about 80% of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease
Stats about smoking
Smoking is estimated to cause 71% of all cancer deaths, 42% of chronic respiratory diseases and nearly 10% of cardiovascular diseases
What are the health-related theories
Learning and social cognition
What are the type of learning conditions
Operant conditioning and social conditions models theory
What is operating conditions
Behaviour reinforce if you ‘reward’ the person and behaviour decrease if it is ‘punished’
What is the problem with operating conditioning
Unhealthy behaviours are needed you rewarding
What are the limiting factors of operating conditioning
Based on simple stimulus responses,
no accounts cognitive processes,
no account of social context
What contribute to social learning theory
Behaviour is goal directed and people are motivated to perform behaviours
How are they related to health related behaviours
Influence of family and harmful behaviours
Define the social cognition model
These theories look at how we decide to behave in particular ways
What is the cognitive the dissonance theory
Discomfort when hold inconsistent beliefs or actions don’t match beliefs
Draw out the theory of planned behaviour
Attitude towards behaviour , Subjective norm, perceived control link to the intention which in turn causes the behaviour
Why is there a problem with intervention need to change behaviour
Multiple and poorly integrating models of behaviour, they have variable and modest affects and impact depends on the type of behaviour the population being targeted and the context
Why don’t people behave in ways that promote health
Lack of capability, insufficient opportunity and motivation
What is the nudge theory 
Focus on unconscious influences on behaviour
Change behaviour by changing the environment, using positive reinforcement , using messaging and indirect suggestions
How can the nudge theory be successful
It must decrease the effort required to make the desired choice and improve our motivation to opt for that choice
Why do we need to take caution on individual behaviour change
Maybe outside individuals control, risk of victim blaming and single intervention that target a specific behavioural risk of little impact on determinants that actually cause poor health
Why is a comprehensive strategy to tackle this problem
A behaviour change approach, a strong policy framework that creates a supportive environment and the empowerment of people to gain more control over making healthy lifestyle decisions
