L9: Health Psychology

Question 1

What is the COM-B framework?

Answer 1

• stands for Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation, and Behaviour
• It is a psychological model used to understand health-related behaviour

Question 2

Give examples of factors that influence individual health-related behaviour based on the COM-B framework

Answer 2

• Examples include capability factors like knowledge and physical ability, opportunity factors like the environment and social support, and motivation factors like attitudes and emotions

Question 3

How can the COM-B framework be used to develop interventions for behavior change?

Answer 3

• helps identify specific areas for intervention: enhancing capability, increasing opportunities, and boosting motivation to promote positive health-related behaviour change

Question 4

Provide examples of studies that have used the COM-B to guide behavior-change interventions.

Answer 4

• One study developed an intervention to improve physical activity in older adults by using exercise classes, group activities, and motivational interviewing based on the COM-B framework

Question 5

What is the role of behaviour in physical health?

Answer 5

• Behaviour plays a crucial role in physical health as it influences lifestyle choices and adherence to health-related practices

Question 6

Name some psychological models used to understand health-related behaviour

Answer 6

• Examples include the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and the Transtheoretical Model

Question 7

What are the approaches used to examine predictors of health-related behavior?

Answer 7

• Qualitative approaches involve in-depth exploration through interviews and focus groups
• Quantitative approaches use surveys and statistical analyses

Question 8

Give examples of psychological factors affecting vaccination, help-seeking, and adherence behaviours

Answer 8

• vaccine hesitancy
• fear of medical procedures
• beliefs about treatment effectiveness

Question 9

what is health psychology?

Answer 9

• field of psych that examines how psychological, behavioural & social factors affect health & illness

Question 10

Why doesn’t everyone take up the offer of vaccination?

Answer 10

Acceptability of vaccines can be influenced by concerns about :
side effects
beliefs about vaccine safety
views on age appropriateness
social norms

Question 11

What were the key findings from the exploratory research on HPV vaccine attitudes?

Answer 11

• generally positive views towards HPV vaccine, concerns about side effects, worries about granting sexual activity permission
• preference for behaviour change over vaccination in some case

Question 12

How was the COVID-19 vaccine acceptability study conducted?

Answer 12

• study involved an online survey with 1,500 UK adults
• assessing demographics, vaccine attitudes, and intentions using Likert scales and free-text responses

Question 13

What were the main predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the follow-up study?

Answer 13

• Intention, social norms, perceived necessity of the vaccine, and perceived safety were all associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake

Question 14

What were some reasons given for being unvaccinated in the COVID-19 vaccine acceptability study?

Answer 14

• Concerns about side effect
• perceived lack of research
• skepticism about the vaccine being ‘experimental’

Question 15

What are the barriers and facilitators to vaccine acceptance?

Answer 15

• concerns about side effects, lack of perceived research, and experimental nature.
• Facilitators: include previous vaccination behaviour, perceived need, and social norms

Question 16

What factors predicted 70% of the variance in COVID-19 vaccine intentions?

Answer 16

• Previous flu vaccination behaviour/intention, specific beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccine (social norms, necessity, safety, information adequacy)
• free-text responses focusing on protection
• ending the pandemic
• confidence in vaccine/authority
• safety concerns

Question 17

Why don’t people always seek help quickly when they have symptoms that could be serious?

Answer 17

• Non-recognition of symptom seriousness is a common patient-mediated factor leading to delays in seeking help for potential serious symptoms

Question 18

What are some reasons for late diagnosis of cancer?

Answer 18

• non-recognition of symptom seriousness
• misinterpretation of symptoms
• delays in seeking medical help

Question 19

What are the health psychology contributions to understanding help-seeking behaviour?

Answer 19

contributes by
- developing theories
- assessing public knowledge of symptoms
- exploring barriers and facilitators to help-seeking
- describing social inequalities
- developing interventions to promote timely help-seeking

Question 20

What methods were used in the study on lung cancer in non-smokers?

Answer 20

• used qualitative methods, including telephone interviews with lung cancer patients (smokers and non-smokers) to compare their experiences of diagnosis and help-seeking

Question 21

What is the Common Sense Model of Self-regulation in Health & Illness?

Answer 21

• involves cognitive illness representations (identity, timeline, cause, control, consequences, coherence)
• emotional illness representations
• coping procedures
  coping behaviour appraisal
• illness outcomes
• emotional outcomes

Question 22

What are the implications of the study on lung cancer experiences for help-seeking?

Answer 22

• Perceived urgency drives help-seeking
• low concern reduces symptom vigilance
• managing non-specific symptoms is challenging
• safety-netting is crucial to encourage urgency without unnecessary worry

Question 23

Why doesn’t everyone take their medication as prescribed?

Answer 23

• non-adherence to medication can be influenced by various factors, including physical and psychological capability, motivation, and external opportunities
• there are intentional & unintentional reasons for non-adherence, and tailoring interventions to individual patient needs is important

Question 24

How can adherence to medication be classified using the COM-B framework?

Answer 24

• adherence to medication can be classified using the COM-B framework
• which examines capability (physical and psychological factors), motivation (reflective and automatic brain processes), and opportunity (physical and social external factors)

Question 25

What are some reasons for medication non-adherence?

Answer 25

• physical symptoms and fatigue
• the ability to swallow medication
• health literacy
• cognitive capacity
  -comprehension of disease/illness

Question 26

What distinguishes intentional from unintentional non-adherence?

Answer 26

• intentional non-adherence refers to a conscious decision not to follow the prescribed medication regimen
• unintentional non-adherence is typically due to forgetfulness/other unintentional factors

Question 27

Why is it important to identify the reasons for non-adherence in individual patients?

Answer 27

• large variation in the causes of non-adherence between patients and within patients over time
• identifying specific reasons for non-adherence in each patient is crucial to tailor interventions and improve medication adherence

Question 28

What are some reflective brain processes that influence medication adherence?

Answer 28

• treatment necessity beliefs
  -treatment concerns
• previous treatment experiences
• illness concerns
• Self-efficacy to adhere to the medication
• Self-efficacy in patient-healthcare provider interactions

Question 29

What are some automatic brain processes that influence medication adherence?

Answer 29

Depression or low mood
Avoidance of intrusive illness-related thoughts

Question 30

What physical external factors can impact medication adherence?

Answer 30

• Physical external factors influencing medication adherence include:

Availability of healthcare resources
Availability of illness and treatment education

Question 31

What social external factors can impact medication adherence?

Answer 31

Social external factors influencing medication adherence include:

HCP-patient relationship/perceived relationship
Social support from family and friends
Socioeconomic status