Health Psychology Flashcards
What is health psychology for?
To understand psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill and how they respond to this.
What is the health belief model and its 4 predicting factors?
Suggests that health behaviours are predicted by 4 factors; the perceived susceptibility to the health threat, the perceived seriousness of the health threat, the benefits and barriers of undertaking particular health behaviours, and cues to action
What is perceived susceptibility
Perceived susceptibility to a health threat refers to a persons perception that he is likely to contract are particular illness
What is the optimistic bias
It is unrealistic optimism by which they believe that they are far less likely than other people to contract particular illnesses
What is perceived seriousness or severity
Perceive seriousness or severity of the health rate refers to an individual’s perception of the impact of particular illness would have on her life
Explain cues to action
Cues to action refer to ancillary factors that influence whether or not a person is willing to begin health behaviour or terminate
What is the protection motivation theory of health
The addition of self efficacy or an individual’s confidence that they can actually engage in the health behaviour to the health belief model creates a protection motivation theory health
What does the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behaviour both suggest
They both suggest the behaviour is a function of behavioural intentions
What is the trans-theoretical model
theorises that people’s readiness to change is a key determinant of change
Describe individual barriers related to health promotion
Individual barriers can include the fact that negative behaviours are rewarding particularly in the short-term for example smoking, alcohol, fast food
Describe family barriers related to health promotion
Children frequently model the health behaviours they see their parents or siblings perform
Describe health system barriers related to health promotion
People often do not go to the doctor when they are well
Describe community cultural and ethnic barriers related to health promotion
People who live and work in environments that encourage the use of alcohol as a means of fitting and will likely initiate or continue alcohol use. For example as work settings have increasingly become smoke-free the percentage of people who smoke at work where they have to go outside to do so has decreased
List the barriers to health promotion
Individual barriers, family barriers, health system barriers, and community barriers
Describe stress
Stress refers to a challenge to a persons capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands. Stress is a psycho biological process with both physiological and psychological components and consequences
Describe the general adaptation syndrome and it’s three stages
Alarm resistance and exhaustion. Alarm involves the release of adrenaline and other hormones. The alarm stage cannot last indefinitely however and the body may eventually enter the second stage resistance if the resistance phase lasts long enough the body eventually wears down an organism and is the third stage of exhaustion
What is primary appraisal, emotional forecasting, and secondary appraisal.
Primary appraisal of the situation is when the person decides whether the situation is benign stressful or relevant part of this process involves emotional forecasting. A person evaluating what feelings a particular situation will produce. Secondary appraisal is when the person evaluate the options and decide how to respond
What are stressors
They are life events that often lead to stress
What is acculturative stress
Acculturative stress refers to the stress people experiencing and trying to adapt to a new culture
What are catastrophes and daily hassles
Catastrophes are stresses of massive proportions and daily hassles are minor annoyances of every day life
How can stress affect physical health
Stress can affect physical health in two ways directly by weakening the main system and indirectly by leading to behaviours are weak in the bodies defences or lead to exposure to pathogens
Describe coping mechanisms
Coping mechanisms of the ways people deal with stressful events and it includes problem focused coping which is changing the situation and emotion focused coping which aims to regulate emotion generated by stressful situation
