HL6 - Health risk and health enhancing behaviours Flashcards
What is stigma?
A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or individual
What is the process of stigma?
How does stigma apply to health?
Health risk behaviours → Smoking, alcohol consumption, unsafe sex
What is health behaviour (behavioural pathogens vs behavioural immunogens) ?
- Matarazzo (1984) distinguished between:
- behavioural pathogens:
- the health damaging/health risk behaviours such as
excessive alcohol consumption, smoking, fatty diet.
- the health damaging/health risk behaviours such as
- behavioural immunogens:
- the health protective/health enhancing behaviours
such as exercise, health screening uptake, breast self-
examination, and low-fat diets
- the health protective/health enhancing behaviours
- behavioural pathogens:
How can chronic diseases impact health?
- heart disease, stroke, cancer and other chronic diseases looming epidemics that will take the greatest toll in deaths and disability” (WHO, 2005)
- Chronic diseases impact heavily on:
- Burden upon patients/carers
- Rates of death/disability
- Use of health services
- Healthcare expenditure
What are behavioural contributors to illness in Australia?
Can use this to see how to improve health by implementing health enhancing behaviours
What are the primary causes of death in Australia?
- Coronary heart disease
- Stroke
- Cancer
- Dementia
What are the risks of smoking as a health behaviour?
- Australia was the first country to introduce plain packaging, also introduced tobacco taxes
- Increases risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, cancer
- Prevalence - 2001 (19%) & 2019 (9.9%)
- People who have never smoked have increased between 2001 (51%) and 2019 (63%)
What are the factors associated with smoking?
- Location
- Remote and very remote areas (2x more likely than major cities)
- Indigeneity
- Indigenous Australians (2.5x more likely than non-indigenous)
- SES
- Lower SES (3.6x more likely than highest SES)
- Sexual orientation
- ## Homosexual and bisexual more likely to smoke daily than heterosexual
What is the current usage of E-cigarettes like?
- Lifetime & current use of e-cigarettes increased among smokers and non-smokers between 2016 and 2019
- Although 82% of secondary school students had never tried smoking in 2017 compared to 77% in 2011 but almost 2 in 5 aged 14 had used an e-cig
- Most common reason was curiosity through seeing it modelled by others
- Social learning and reinforcement
Why might people start smoking?
- Modelling (peers, siblings, parents)
- Social pressure, social learning, and
reinforcement - Weight control
- Risk-taking or problem behaviours
- Health cognitions (unrealistic optimism)
Why do people continue smoking?
- Enjoyment (behaviour, taste, effects)
- Habit
- Physical and/or psychological addiction
- Stress/anxiety management
- Low self-efficacy
What are the recommendations for alcohol consumption?
- No more than 2 units per day
- Alcohol is the second most used psychoactive substance
- Standard drink = 10g alcohol
What are the short-term risks of alcohol consumption?
- Pedestrian, road and other accidents
- Domestic and public violence
- Crime
What are the long term risks of alcohol consumption?
- Liver disease
- Cancer (oral, oesophagus, larynx)
- High blood pressure
- Pancreatitis
- Brain damage