Health, Stress & Coping Flashcards
What is health psychology?
Devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill and how they respond when they get ill.
Health Belief Model
+ it’s 4 factors that health behaviour is predicted by
BECK - 1955
Likelihood that individuals will take preventative action depends directly on the outcome of 2 assessments they make:
- Evaluations to the threat of a health problem
- Weight the pros/cons of taking action
4 Factors:
- Perceived susceptibility to health threat
- Perceived severity of health threat
- Benefits and barriers of undertaking particular health behaviours
- Cues to action of willingness to begin a healthy behaviour
*high risk + high severity + many enablers + few barriers = behaviour more likely to happen
Optimistic Bias
People believe that they are much less likely than other people to contract particular illnesses
Protection Motivation Theory
+ 4 key components
(Similar to health belief model)
Desire to protect yourself from a threat
4 Key Components:
- Vulnerability to health threat
- Severity of health threat
- Response efficacy (belief that suggestion action will actually help reduce the threat)
- Perceived self efficacy (being able to carry out what is need to avoid threat)
Self Efficacy
Belief that we can succeed at something we want to do
thought to be a task specific version of self esteem
Theory of Reasoned Action
+ Factors (2)
AZJEN and FISHBEIN (1980s)
Focuses on intentions, attitudes and subjective norms
If people evaluate something as positive and other people who matter to them are doing it, they are more likely to intend to do it too.
Factors:
- Attitudes: behaviour is considered positive/negative
- Subjective Norms: receiving social pressure from others to engage/not engage in behaviour
Theory of Planned Behaviour
(Theory of reasoned action + self efficacy)
AZJEN & FISHBEIN (1980s)
Like theory of reasoned action but instead of focussing on just 2 elements (attitudes and subjective norms) a 3rd one is also considered: “self efficacy” = perceived behavioural control
Self Efficacy Theory
BONDURA 1980s
Perceived self efficacy of being able to carry out what is needed to avoid threat.
Outcome expectancies: perceived positives and negatives of taking action
Determining Efficacy Judgements (4)
How ones self efficacy is influenced towards a task
- performance outcomes: positive and negative experiences influencing the ability to perform (if they have performed well previously, they’re more likely to feel confident performing at similar tasks)
- verbal persuasion: encouragement and dis encouragement to individuals performance or ability to perform
- vicarious experiences: developing a high or low self efficacy based on other peoples performance.
- physiological feedback: experiencing sensations from body on how they perceive this emotional arousal influences beliefs of efficacy
Transtheoretical Model
Stages (6)
Key terms (4)
PROCHASKA, DICLEMENTE (1990s)
We move through distinct stages:
- precontemplation
- contemplation
- preparation
- action
- maintenance
- relapse (can occur at any stage)
Key terms:
- addiction: physical & psychological dependence on substance following use over period of time
- physical dependence: body is used to the substance and incorporates use in its normal function
- tolerance: increasing adaptation to substance needing higher doses to achieve same result
- withdrawal: unpleasant physical & psychological symptoms upon withdrawal
Barriers to Healthy Behaviours:
- individual (5)
- family (1)
- health system (4)
- community, cultural and ethnic (3)
Individual:
- lack of knowledge
- short term rewards of health comprising behaviour
- negative effects of health compromising behaviours are often not immediate
- unrealistic optimism
- gender: men less likely to engage in health promoting behaviour
Family:
- health habits acquired in childhood
Health system:
- doctors trained to focus on illness not health
- lack of health insurance
- relationship between doctor/patient
- communication between doctor/patient
Community, Cultural & Ethnic
- norms of community
- disparities in health between indigenous and non indigenous Australians
- rural and remote living (access to health services)
Stress
(Meaning, produce and elicit)
3 possible views on stress
Challenge to a persons capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands
Typically produce psychological and emotional arousal
Stressful experiences typically elicit cognitive & behavioural efforts to cope with stress
3 views:
- Focus on environment = stress as stimulus (stressors)
- Reaction to stress = stress as response (distress)
- Relationship between person & environment = stress as interaction (coping)
Stress as Psychobiological Process
(General Adaptation Syndrome)
3 stages
Alarm: release of adrenaline and other hormones (fight or flight)
Resistance: respiration and heart rate return to normal, glucose levels and some stress related hormones remain high
Exhaustion: after prolonged stress the body’s defences break down, increase vulnerability to infection/disease
Stress as Transactional Process
Theory + 2 stages
Stress is a transaction between individual and environment rather than property of either alone.
Primary appraisal: decide if situation is benign, stressful or irrelevant. If stressful: what to do about it
Secondary appraisal: evaluate options and decide how to respond, emotional forecasting
3 Types of Stress
Harm or Loss
Threat
Challenge
