Health Beliefs & Behaviours Flashcards
What are lay beliefs?
Perceptions of ordinary people (assumptions they hold to be true about their health)
Where do lay beliefs come from?
Often rooted in sociocultural contexts
Shaped by society, culture, personal biography, social identity (gender, sexuality, ethnicity, occupation)
What is meant by the term culture? What is its relevance to beliefs on health and care?
Culture shapes the way we think, feel and experience our lives (values, norms and traditions affecting how individuals of a particular group perceive, think, interact, behave)
Important to health as knowing why a patient believes that they are ill will help the understanding of the whole context of presentation
Why are lay health beliefs important?
Provide insight into what’s important for the patient and leads to health seeking behaviour: how people respond to symptoms, decisions about consulting, expectations about treatment, concordance with treatment plans
What’s the ‘symptom iceberg’
Patients can respond to their symptoms either by seeing a GP (or other healthcare professional)
OR by doing nothing, self-medicating, consult someone else
What are some social triggers to seeking medical help?
Interference with social and personal relationships
Interference with vocational/physical activity
Sanctioning by others
Interpersonal crisis
Using the example of a TIA, what are some delays in seeking help?
Perception of symptom relevance/seriousness: infrequent symptoms of short duration
Symptom explanation: make sense of symptoms by finding alternative explanations (it’s my age, it’s my eyes, I’m tired)
Symptom evaluation: often not perceived as serious if it’s short-lived, may seek help if it happens again, may discuss with family or friend, recover so not much a Dr could do
What are health behaviours? What are the 3 broad types?
Behaviours that are related to the health status of the individual
Good health behaviours: sleeping 7-8hrs, regular exercise, healthy eating
Health protective behaviours: wearing a seatbelt, attending regular checkups
Health imparting habits: smoking, eating a high fat diet, alcohol abuse
Outline the dual pathway model of health
Identifies two broad ways in which psychological processes may influence physical health:
Psychological process -> physical health via direct path
Psychological process can influence physical health indirectly by influencing behaviour
What are 4 determinants of health behaviour?
Background factors - characteristics in which people live their lives
Stable factors - individual differences (personality) in psychological activity that are stable over time and context
Social factors - social connections in the immediate environment
Situational factors - appraisal of personal relevance that shape responses in a specific situation
What are 3 broad types of individual differences in health?
Emotional dispositions - psychological processes involved in experience and expression
Generalised expectancies - psychological processes involved in formulating expectations in relation to future outcomes
Explanatory styles - psychological processes involved in explaining the causes of negative events
What are 5 personality traits (emotional dispositions)? (OCEAN)
Openness to new experiences Conscientiousness Extroversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
What are 3 social cognition theories to explain the relationship between social cognitions (beliefs, attitudes, goals etc) and behaviour?
Health Belief Model
Theory of Planned Behaviour
Transtheoretical Model
