Interventions and Public Health

Question 1

Types of public health intervention

Answer 1

Prevention interventions
* Universal: aimed at everyone
* Selective: aimed at groups who may be particularly at risk
* Indicated: aimed at people already showing early signs or symptoms

Question 2

Out of the types of intervention, what is public healthy most like?

Answer 2

Universal as more elements of being selective

Question 3

What forms can Public health campaigns take?

Answer 3

Changes in policy
Changes in law
Public health campaigns

Question 4

Advantages of Public Health Campaigns

Answer 4

• Reaches lots of people
• Changing social norms
• More targeted campaigns may miss people
• Can be backed up by laws,
  policy etc.

Question 5

Disadvantages of Public Health Campaigns

Answer 5

• Difficult to measure the effectiveness
• Does it really reach everyone equally?
• Difficult to change behaviour
  – Not individualised
  – Does education work?
  – Does fear arousal work?
• Expensive

Question 6

The role of psychology in all of this?

Answer 6

Public Health interventions to change behaviour
More knowledge prevents risks
Higher physical or interpersonal skills
Changing attitudes and motivations
Changing beliefs and perceptions
Influencing social norms

Question 7

NHS Health Development Agency (2004)

Answer 7

theoretical models in developing interventions
-Intervening at multiple levels when appropriate
- Providing alternative choices and risk reduction rather than simply telling people not to do something
Targeted and tailored, making use of needs assessment or formative research

Question 8

Theory of the planned behaviour linked to importance of social norms

Answer 8

(Ajzen, 1991)
core variables (attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control) shape an individual’s intentions regarding whether or not to engage in a certain behaviour or not.
behavioural intentions most likely to determine whether we actually do engage in behaviour
Factors which impact on whether behaviour will be changed include perceptions of individuals of whether valued other think i should perform the behaviour and as my own motivation to comply with belief of others

Question 9

Theory of Normative Social Behaviour linked to importance of social norms

Answer 9

(Rimal and Real, 2005)
Behaviour can change via normative mechanisms like descriptive norms and injunctive norms

Question 10

Descriptive norms

Answer 10

An individuals belief about prevalence of behaviour

Question 11

Injunctive norms

Answer 11

An individual’s belief about what they feel they should do based on others expectations

Question 12

Evidence of theory of Normative Social Behaviour linked to importance of social norms

Answer 12

Seat belts (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents)
* 1970s: first TV commercials BUT no substantial increase in seat belt wearing
* 1983: compulsory for drivers and passengers to wear seat belts for a three-year trial period.
* 1986: Both Houses of Parliament vote overwhelmingly in favour of the requirement to wear seat belts becoming permanent at end of 3 year period
1987: cars having rear seatbelts becomes compulsory
* 2000: Think! Was officially established as the governments road safety campaign

Question 13

Is it all good with seat belt campaign?

Answer 13

• Low seat-belt wearing rates (Dept of Transport, 2008):
  – Young men, and men in general
  – Rear-seat passengers
  – Goods vehicle and company car drivers
  – Journeys taken late at night or early in the morning
  – People driving in urban areas with relatively low speed limits.
  Department of Transport data–à% people died in road traffic accidents and not wearing seat belts rising from 19% to 27%
  Young people still leading to lower seat belt wearing

Question 14

What was the seat belt campaign informed with?

Answer 14

Informed by psychology and epidemiology
epidemiology? Research into the distribution (e.g. frequency or pattern) and causes of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in different populations. Many psychologists conduct epidemiological research.

Question 15

What are the Psychological principles at work?

Answer 15

– Emotive
– Social norms
– Targeting

Question 16

Evaluating Public Health Campaigns road safety

Answer 16

– Increase in the proportion of both front and rear seat passengers who said they did not always wear a seatbelt.
– No change from pre-campaign baseline in the proportion of drivers who said they did not always wear a seatbelt when driving.

Question 17

What are the Confounding variables of campaign?

Answer 17

outside influence which may alter the relationship between the variables you are trying to look at in your research.
– increases in some beliefs of the dangerousness of not wearing a seatbelt
– Decreases in other areas AND more adults saying that they didn’t always wear their seatbelt