Health Beliefs Flashcards
what are the different types of behaviour in healthcare?
A health behaviour aims to prevent disease
An illness behaviour aims to seek remedy
A sick role behaviour aims at getting well
what are the different types of health behaviours?
Health protective behaviours
Health impairing habits
What are the main causes of ill health that are preventable?
Obesity
Smoking
Alcohol Consumption
Lack of exercise
what is the Attribution Theory?
Attribution theory is concerned with how ordinary people explain the causes of their behaviour
For example, is someone angry because they are bad-tempered or because something bad has happened?
Attributions of causality (cause of behaviour) are structured according to the causal schemata
what is the causal schemata that cause of behaviour is structured in?
Distinctiveness - the cause of a behaviour is specific to the individual.
E.g. If Alison only smokes when she is out with friends, her behaviour is high in distinctiveness. If she smokes at any time or place, distinctiveness is low.
Consensus- the cause of a behaviour would be shared by others
E.g. Alison smokes a cigarette when she goes out for a meal with her friend. If all her friends smoke, her behaviour is high in consensus. If only Alison smokes, it is low.
Consistency over time – the same cause of the same behaviour that occurs at a different time
Consistency over modality – the same cause of the same behaviour that occurs at a different situation
E.g. If Alison only smokes when she is out with friends, consistency is high. If she only smokes on one special occasion/time, consistency is low
what are the types of attributions of cause?
Internal versus external attributions of cause
when we succeed, we attribute it to ourselves (internal attribution)
when we fail, we attribute it to external factors (external factors) rather than blaming ourselves
Stable versus unstable attributions of cause
Do the causes of behaviour change over time
Controllable versus uncontrollable
are our causes of behaviour controllable or un-controllable
what is unrealistic optimism?
how to counteract it?
Unrealistic optimism: when people have inaccurate perceptions of risk and susceptibility
I.e. Most people believe they are less likely to get the health problem
It is one of the reasons people continue to practice unhealthy behaviours
To counter unrealistic optimism, we must convince patients risks are real and serious e.g. health promotion campaigns using shocking graphics
what four cognitive factors are involved in unrealistic optimism?
- Lack of personal experience of the problem
- The belief that the problem is preventable by individual action
- The belief that the problem has not yet appeared and it will appear later in the future
- The belief that the problem is infrequent (rare)
what is risk compensation?
People believe one set of risk behaviours can be offset by a healthy behaviour.
Occurs when there are competing desires, eat cake and also stay slim –> I can eat cake today as I go to the gym tonight.
May explain why people don’t stick to dietary and exercise programmes e.g. I won’t exercise because I won’t have a piece of cake or I will have a piece of cake because I will exercise.
what is the Health Locus of Control?
who developed a measure for it?
Wallston and Wallston (1982) Developed a measure of the health locus of control.
Measures
If an individual believes their health is controllable by them or is not controlled by them.
explain the health belief model
Helps to explain and predict health behaviours
A person will take a health-related action based on the following:
- the perceived susceptibility of the disease
- the perceived severity of the disease
- the perceived benefits of taking action
- the perceived barriers to performing action
A person will also have ques to take health-related action:
- Internal ques to change e.g. symptoms
- External cues e.g. health campaigns, advice of a doctor or the death of a famous person
Example of action is Breast Screening, Cervical Screening, wearing a condom
E.g. if a person does not think they are susceptible to breast cancer then they will not see it as a threat so will not get screened
Perceived barriers include getting time off work or being able to find child care arrangements, clinic is far away etc.
give an example of a health belief model using this scenario:
Jeff is told by his doctor he is overweight
Perceived susceptibility: Jeff believes if he keeps up his eating habits and lack of exercise, he could become obese
Perceived severity: Jeff believed consequences of becoming obese can lead to other health problems
Perceived benefits: Jeff thinks having proper diet and exercise will stop him becoming obese
Perceived barriers: Jeff is embarrassed to go to the gym because of his lack of knowledge about exercise.
Ques to action: Jeff leaves a sticky note on his mirror to remind him to work out and rewards himself with cheat meal on the weekend
Self-efficacy: over time jeff build confidence by exercising and eating right which helps him keep on positive behavior.
what are some interventions using Health Belief Model?
Using the HBM to design interventions have proved to be very effective
It explores a person perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits and barriers as well as any cues.
These perceived perceptions of threat and benefits can be made more accurate through education.
what is the theory of planned behaviour?
Why do we do what we do?
Example: What influences us to buy a smart phone
We first read relevant info and form our own opinion (1)
We may talk to friends and ask for their opinions (2)
Test phone out in store to see if we can use it easily (3)
With this information you decide whether to buy the phone or not.
Theory:
Attitude towards and act or behaviour: Individuals belief that a certain behaviour will make a positive or negative contribution to their life. (1)
Subjective norm: the opinion of people around you influence your decision e.g. social networks, cultural norms. (2)
Perceived behavioural control: Person’s belief on how easy or hard it is to display certain behaviours (3)
A positive attitude towards an act or behaviour, a favourable subjective norm and a high level of perceived behavioural control are the best predictor for forming a behavioural intention and in turn lead to displayed behaviour.
If you think a certain smartphone is a good idea, and you think other people will think it is a good idea and you believe you can use it, you will get that phone.
If one of the above conditions is unfavourable you are much less likely to get phone.
As number of constructs become unfavourable the chance of you performing behaviour decreases.
Modern Marketing – increase likely hood of buying a product:
Reviews tell us 2
Free trial tells us 3
what are the strengths of the theory of planned behaviour?
Strength of this model is that it looks at social pressures and norms as well as how much control a person believes they have over their behaviour
It is good at explaining a people’s intentions to act in a certain way.
It is slightly less successful at predicting actual behaviour
Reviews of evidence have shown that interventions using TPB can lead to significant behavioural change.
what are the implications for practice? (when is a person more likely to undertake a health related behaviour?)
