Health Beliefs

Question 1

Kasi and Cobb’s 3 types of health-related behaviours

Answer 1

• Health behaviour = aims to prevent disease
• Illness behaviour = aims to seek remedy
• Sick role behaviour = aims at getting well

Question 2

What is attribution theory?

Answer 2

Idea that individuals are motivated to see their social world as predictable and controllable, with a need to understand causality

Question 3

Criteria of attributions of causality

Answer 3

• Distinctiveness = cause specific to an individual carrying out the behaviour
• Consensus = cause of a behaviour would be shared by others
• Consistency over time = same attribution of causality would be made at another time
• Consistency over modality = same attribution would be made in a different situation

Question 4

Weinstein’s reason that people continue to practice unhealthy behaviours

Answer 4

Due to inaccurate risk perceptions of risk and susceptibility

Question 5

What is Weinstein’s idea of ‘unrealistic optimism’?

Answer 5

Most people believe they are less likely to get the health problem

Question 6

4 cognitive factors involved in unrealistic optimism

Answer 6

• Lack of personal experience of the problem
• Belief that the problem is preventable by individual action
• Belief that the problem has not yet appeared, it will appear in the future
• Belief that the problem is infrequent

Question 7

What is risk compensation?

Answer 7

Allowing unhealthy behaviours after adopting a healthy alternative (eg. can eat cake because went to gym)

Question 8

When does risk compensation arise?

Answer 8

When there are competing desires (eg. eat cake but stay slim)

Question 9

What does Wallston and Wallston’s measure of the health locus control measure?

Answer 9

If an individual believes their health is controllable by them, or if it is not in their hands

Question 10

What are the 4 main factors of Rosenstock’s Health Belief Model that determine a person’s readiness to take health action?

Answer 10

• The perceived susceptibility of the disease
• The perceived severity of the disease
• The perceived benefits of taking action
• The perceived barriers to performing action

Question 11

3 aspects of the Theory of Planned Behaviour that lead to a person’s behaviour

Answer 11

• Attitude towards the behaviour (evaluation of outcomes)
• Subjective norm (motivation to comply with others)
• Perceived behavioural control (internal and external control factors)

Question 12

What beliefs will cause a patient to undertake a health-related behaviour?

Answer 12

• Their health is important
• They are susceptible to a health threat which could have serious consequences
• The proposed action will be effective and does not have too many costs
• Others approve of the action and their approval is important
• They can successfully carry out the action