Illness Behaviour and the Sick Role

Question 1

What is the definition of an illness?

Answer 1

A condition of pronounced deviation from the normal healthy state

Question 2

What is illness behaviour?

Answer 2

The state when the individual feels ill and behaves in a particular way

Question 3

What is the lay referral system?

Answer 3

Informal network of lay people (not medical practitioners)
who provide their own information and interpretation about the person’s
symptoms

Question 4

What is illness representation?

Answer 4

Symptom recognition is not necessarily enough to make people think they are ill.
- Symptoms on their own have no meaning and are merely bodily sensations.
- Different symptoms will be accounted for in different ways. Consider the symptom of back
pain!
- Illness representation will determine how someone responds to potential health threats.
- Includes information about the illness:
- Its symptoms.
- Possible causes.
- Likely time course.
- Potential consequences.
- Illness representations interpret symptoms and give them meaning.
- The course of action taken will be determined by the representation

Question 5

What are the 5 components of illness representation?

Answer 5

Identity: the label or name given to the condition and the associated symptoms. People
are likely to interpret diverse symptoms as evidence of the label .
2. Cause: the individualistic ideas about the perceived cause of the condition, which may not
be completely biomedically accurate. These representations are based on information
gathered from personal experience as well as the opinions of significant others, health
professionals and media sources, reflecting issues such as stress, environmental pollution
and other pathogens.
3. Timeline: the predictive belief about how long the condition might last (i.e. is it acute or is
it going to be chronic?) These beliefs will be re-evaluated as time progresses.
4. Consequences: the individual beliefs about the consequences of the condition and how
this will impact on them physically and socially. These representations may only develop
into more realistic beliefs over time.
5. Curability/controllability: the beliefs about whether the condition can be cured or kept
under control and the degree to which the individual plays a part in achieving this.

Question 6

What is the sick role?

Answer 6

Any activity or behaviour undertaken for the purpose of
getting well by those who consider themselves ill

Question 7

What are the rights of the sick role?

Answer 7

The Sick person is temporarily exempt from ‘normal’ social roles, according to
illness severity
* The Sick person is generally not held responsible for their condition (absence of
blame). Illness is considered beyond individuals control therefore not simply curable
by willpower.
* The Sick person has the right to be taken care of.

Question 8

What are the duties/obligations of the sick role?

Answer 8

The Sick person is expected to perceive being sick as undesirable, thus they have
an obligation to try to ‘get well’.
* The sick person has an obligation to seek technically competent help from a suitably
qualified professional and to cooperate in the process of trying to recover

Question 9

What are the advantages of the sick role?

Answer 9

Exempt from many daily activities.
* Able to rest and be taken care of.
* Social support.
* Workers compensation, disability

Question 10

What are the disadvantages of the sick role?

Answer 10

Behaviors are scrutinized.
* Others may view behaviors as illegitimate attempt to gain advantages.
* Confusion, discomfort, decreased functioning and distress

Question 11

According to the world health organisation, what is pain?

Answer 11

Pain is “an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”