Health revision Flashcards
What are the cognitive determinants of behaviour?
Awareness
Knowledge
Attitudes
Beliefs
State 2 studies that look at awareness to increase health behaviour
Appleton (2010): telephone study of 1,000 people over the age of 65 from Northern Ireland.
It was found that low consumption was associated with low awareness of current recommendations, low willingness to change and other demographic variables.
Ashfield-Watt (2006): 2 surveys investigating the value of how well the 5-a-day campaign works in households in New Zealand.
It was found that high awareness of a need to consume more fruits and vegetables, with higher intentions to eat more fruit and vegetables after seeing the campaign.
State 2 studies that look at knowledge to increase health behaviour
Gibson (1998): Assessed knowledge, attitudes and beliefs on diet and diet-disease relationships.
- Found that children’s fruit intake was predicted by mother’s fruit intake, mother’s nutritional knowledge and mother’s attitudes towards fruit intake
- Similar findings for vegetables and confectionary
Eboh (2006): used a nutritional education programme on children for 3 weeks, 4 days a week containing 40 minute sessions.
- Found that children who received this education had showed significant changes when meeting dietary recommendations/guidelines compared to the control group who hadn’t gone through this programme
State a study which looks at attitudes/beliefs to increase health behaviour
Hearty (2007): measured this factor towards healthy eating in 1,300 men and women
- Positive attitudes towards healthy eating were associated with healthier diets
Positive attitudes towards healthy eating were associated with increasing age, higher social class, better education, not smoking and low BMI
What does the Health Belief model suggest and who formed it?
Rosenstock (1963)
Behaviour is seen as a result of core beliefs, including the perceptions of susceptibility to illness, severity of illness, costs and benefits of carrying out a behaviour. All of these factors predict the likeliness of a behaviour occuring.
State 2 studies which use the Health Belief model
Wright (2012): found that condom-assertive individuals have more faith in the effectiveness of condoms and also believe that they are more susceptible to STIs - supporting the model
Zamani (2008) used an intervention eduction programme based on the HBM to show children the diseases associated with unhealthy nutrition. This aimed to increase students’ perceptions, susceptibility and severity of illness
- Students who experienced education showed significant improvements in junk food consumption
What is the Theory of Reasoned Action and who formed it?
Fishbein (1967)
Assumes that actions arise from reasoned choices - our behaviour is a function of behaviour intentions, meaning that attitudes predict intentions
State 2 studies which use the Theory of Reasoned Action
Richardson (1993): attitudes positively correlated with reduced red meat consumption and future consumption
McCarthy (2004): for poultry consumption, 74% of variance of the behaviour intention was predicted by intention, with 15% being predicted by subjective norms. Compared to pork consumption (64% vs 11%)
What is the Theory of Planned Behaviour and who formed it?
Azjen (1985)
An extension of TRA, but it includes perceived behavioural control
State 2 studies which look at TPB
Astrom & Rice (2001): Intentions to eat fruit and vegetables were predicted by all 3 factors (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control)
Bogers (2004): same as above
State a study which contradicts TRA and TPB
Connor & Armitage (2005): shows that there are added factors which can predict behaviours e.g. past habits/behaviours, moral norms and self-identity
What is the Transtheoretical model and who formed it?
Prochaska & Diclemente (1982)
Pre-Contemplation: no awareness of problem who no intention of changing
Contemplation: firm intention to change the behaviour
Action: changing the behaviour to overcome the present problem
Maintenance: being sustainable to prevent relapse
Relapse: regression back to earlier stages
State a study which looks at the Transtheoretical model
DiClemente (1991): studied 1,446 US smokers, following them for 1 month and 6 month periods after completing measures on stress, nicotine tolerance, stage of change
- Found that those in preparation stage smoked less and were less addicted, with higher self-efficacy compared to those in action
What is the COM-B model and who formed it?
Michie (2011)
‘Capability, Opportunity, Motivation’ all have an impact on behaviour.
In order to change behaviour, one or more of these factors must be altered.
State research to back the COM-B model
Lister (2014): gamification in health and fitness apps is associated with composite motivational behaviour scores - however no findings for capability and opportunity
What are interventions in health psychology?
They aim to increase healthy behaviours/decrease unhealthy behaviours.
They can be simple, complex, population-wide or specific to individuals.
State 3 studies using interventions to ban/defer unhealthy behaviour
Gomel (1993) used a workplace ban to reduce smoking at work, but there was no change to smoking behaviour
Trumbo & Kim (2015) found that positive reactions to e-cigarette adverts increased intentions to smoke - advertising needs to focus on quitting
Wagenar (2015) found that increasing taxes on alcohol resulted in reductions of road accidents by 26% (28 months after tax)
State 2 studies using cognitive models to create interventions
LaBrosse (2013): HBM
Used this to increase knowledge and consumption of folate-rich foods, using 30 minute lessons, followed by podcasts
Di Noia (2008): Transtheoretical 3 week programme, 4 days a week, 40 minutes
What is the difference between complex and theory-based interventions?
Complex interventions aim to do more than increase awareness and knowledge, they aim to aid a variety of cognitions
Theory-based are the same, but based only on specific elements of socio-cognitive models.
State 3 studies which shows that fruit and vegetable intake improves health against disease
Mazzano (2002) found that fruit and vegetable intake is negatively correlated with CVD
Riboli (2013) found that intake is negatively associated with mouth, lung and stomach cancer
Harding (2000) intake is negatively associated with diabetes
State 2 studies which show that fruit and vegetable intake improves wellbeing
Gibson (2012) shows that it improves immune function of the body
Tanumihardio (2009) shows that it aids weight maintenance
State 2 studies showing the impacts of a Mediterranean diet
Keys (1986) found that it is negatively associated with the risk of CVD
Dilis (2012) found that it negatively associated with coronary heart disease incidence and mortality
State 2 intervention used to increase fruit and vegetable consumption
Wardle (2003): 14 day exposure to vegetables not previously liked in 2-6 year olds.
It was found that liking and consumption increased for children in the experimental condition from pre to post intervention
State 2 studies which aim at changing portion sizes
Just (2009): children will pick salad in school when the salad bar in located in a central location, compared to if it is located at the side of a canteen
Frijs (2007): priming (leafy, lots of herbs), default (pre-portioned salad bowls) and perceived variety (default bowl split into each of its components)
Default condition improved the energy intake from vegetable consumption
What is physical activity?
Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles, requiring energy expenditure (WHO, 2017)
What are the benefits of PA
Modifiable risk factor for disease as it can reduce obesity, sleep apnoea (Daniels, 2009) and help bone health (Cole, 2012)
Can help depression (Church, 2016), anxiety, mood disorders, self-esteem and quality of life
What are the risks of sedentary behaviour?
CVD risk (Healy, 2008)
Cario metabolic risk and weight gain
Higher blood glucose (Brockelbank, 2017)
What are the recommendations for PA?
150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity (e.g. cycling) or 75 minutes of vigorous activity (e.g. running) and strength exercises for 2 days a week on all major muscle groups
How can TRA and TPB explain health behaviour
Attitudes and PBC have strong effects for exercise
Armitage (2005) showed that PBV significantly predicts intended and actual behaviour, with stable exercise habits developing after 5 weeks
What are limitations of TRA and TPB in explaining PA?
Research often on ‘risk populations’ - lacks generalisability (Marcus, 2000)
Self-reports prone to bias
Past behaviour is best predictor for future PA (repeated behaviours become habitual)
How can the Transtheoretical model explain PA?
Cognitive processes e.g. consciousness raising, environmental re-evaluation, self re-evaluaton
Behavioural processes e.g. stimulus control, reinforcement management, counter-conditioning
What are the limitations of the Transtheoretical model for explaining PA?
Misperceptions of the stages
Studies often measure stage change as an outcome measure, rather than physical activity
What is the biomedical model?
Suggest that healthy is being absent from disease - reductionist theory
What does the biopsychosocial model state?
Health is made up of biological, social and psychological factors - a holistic theory
What is Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)?
The brain, behaviour and immune susiem are all linked and these links can create implications for physical health and disease (Kemeny, 1999)
What research uses Pavlovian conditioning to back PNI?
Ader & Cohen (1975)
Created conditioned taste aversion in rats. Conditioned stimulus (Saccharin solution) and unconditioned was Cyclophosphamide.
The stronger the potency of the unconditioned stimulus, the stronger the unconditioned response
What are applications for PNI research? (2 studies)
Gallager (2009) parents caregiving for children with developmental disabilities show worse antibody response to a vaccination than parents caring for normal children
Bovjberg (2009) showed conditioned immune suppression and nausea to hospital stimuli as it becomes associated to chemotherapy
What is stress?
The conditioning resulting when an individual perceives the demands to be outweighed by their resources (Lazarus & Folkman)
What are the types of stress
Acute (sort lived)
Chronic (long)
How does the HPA axis work?
Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
Stress signals the SNS to release adrenaline and the hypothalamus to release CRH to the pituitary gland. This then produces ACRH, which is sent to the adrenal glands to produce cortisol.
What is allostasis?
‘Stability through change’
What is allostatic load? And what are the 3 types?
The imbalance of allostatic systems, when they are overworked and fail to respond to initial challenges
Overworked, fail to shut off, fail to respond
What is the function of cortisol?
Glucose production, fat metabolism, modulation of immune functioning
What is the diurnal cortisol profile?
Evans (2000) shows how cortisol is produced throughout the day in healthy people
High amount at start of the day and gradually declines
What is social support in relation to stress?
The importance of social ties in coping with stress (Cassel, 1976)
Refers to actual/recieved support, etc.
What happens in Evans (1997) study
Followed positive HIV men for 42 months
- Found that AIDS progression was associated with higher cumulative stress and lower cumulative social support
State other theories of stress
Fight or flight (Walter Cannon, 1929)
Transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984)
What are the different types of interventions used to increase PA
Self-monitoring techniques
Motivational interviewing
Point-of-decision prompts
Social influence
Education
State a range of studies used for interventions to increase PA
Soler (2010): point-of-decision prompts increase stair usage
Michie (2011) self-monitoring techniques twice as useful when setting goals, reviewing performances
Zhang (2016): social influence more influential than social support - students respond better to social media than traditional media messages
O’Hallaran (2014): adding MI to usual care can improve PA for people with chronic health conditions
What are 2 examples of psychosocial intervention paradigms? Back up with evidence
Expressive writing
- Pennebakbr shows how people can release traumatic/hidden messages, which in turn can reduce hostility and improve social relationships
Mindfulness
- Haller (2017) shows how this work in the short-term by aiding women with breast cancer (meta-analysis)
What is hypercortisolism and hypocortisolism?
The over production or under production of cortisol during pregnancy
What effects can prenatal stress have on heath?
Impacts the foetus during pregnancy
Delivery/birth outcome
Child’s development
Adolescent health and lifespan development
What are the 3 types of psychosocial interventions?
Educational/informational
Cognitive-behavioural
Psychotherapeutic/psychodynamic
