Health related behaviour theories Flashcards
What is the biomedical model of health?
The biomedical model focuses on purely biological factors, excluding psychological, environmental, and social influences. It sees illness as a result of malfunctioning organs or biological systems.
What is the biopsychosocial model of health?
The biopsychosocial model integrates biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding health and illness, viewing them as interconnected.
What does it mean to view health as a continuum?
Health as a continuum sees health and illness as dynamic states, with individuals fluctuating between them, rather than being entirely healthy or ill.
How does the health continuum apply in real life?
It highlights that individuals can improve their health through lifestyle changes and can regress if they neglect it, encouraging continuous self-management.
What is the theory of planned behaviour (TPB)?
TPB suggests that an individual’s behaviour is driven by their intention to engage in a behaviour, which is influenced by their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control.
How does the theory of planned behaviour explain health behaviour?
It explains health behaviour by focusing on the intentions and perceptions of control people have over their actions, such as quitting smoking or exercising more.
What are the strengths of the theory of planned behaviour?
It highlights the importance of attitudes and perceived control, making it useful for developing health interventions like campaigns to change behaviour (useful applications). It is also supported by evidence (Louise et al) who found that perceived control and attitudes affected dieting behaviour but not subjective norms.
What are the limitations of the theory of planned behaviour?
There are other explanations and it does not account for habits, emotions, or environmental influences, and assumes rational decision-making. It may be too reductionist for complex health behaviours.
Humans may also act in irrational ways but the models assumes rational decision making.
What is the health belief model (HBM)?
The HBM suggests that health behaviours are influenced by beliefs about health risks and the perceived benefits or barriers to action. It emphasizes perceived susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers.
What are the strengths of the health belief model?
It is useful for understanding preventive behaviours and it has useful applications such as vaccination campaigns by targeting beliefs about risk and benefits.
It is supported by evidence - Carpenters Meta analysis found evidence for benefits and barriers but not susceptibility
What are the limitations of the health belief model?
It may oversimplify health behaviour, ignoring emotional, social, and environmental factors that can also influence behaviour. There fore on its own it can be too reductionist.
The HBM structure indicates that humans process information in an unrealistically logical manner and sometimes humans act irrationally.
What is self-efficacy?
Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s belief in their ability to successfully perform a behaviour or achieve a goal. High self-efficacy can lead to greater effort and persistence.
How does self-efficacy impact health behaviour?
People with high self-efficacy are more likely to engage in health-promoting behaviours, such as exercising or sticking to a treatment plan, because they believe they can succeed.
What is the locus of control in relation to health?
Locus of control refers to whether people believe their health is controlled by internal factors (their own actions) or external factors (chance, doctors, environment).
How does locus of control influence health behaviour?
People with an internal locus of control are more likely to take responsibility for their health and engage in healthy behaviours, while those with an external locus may feel powerless.
