Lay Beliefs Flashcards
What can lay beliefs impact on?
Behaviour (health & illness) & adherence
Relates to control; over health, over everyday life etc.
note: medical information may be rejected if it is incompatible with competing ideas for which people consider there is good evidence
What are the different perceptions of health?
NEGATIVE: health = absence of illness
(low socioeconomic groups)
FUNCTIONAL: health = ability to do certain things e.g. can I look after myself? can I live independently?
(older generations = certain level of illness is accepted, due to “age”
low socioeconomic groups)
POSITIVE: health = state of wellbeing & fitness
(high socioeconomic groups; long-term)
Give some examples of lay epidemiology.
Lay epidemiology = why and how illness happens & why it happened to a particular person at a particular time
- many people observe and generate hypotheses from experiences of those around them (personal, familial, social sources of knowledge)
e. g. “coronary candidate” = fat, smokes, unfit - system is fallible e.g. “coronary candidate” lives to old age, person who dies from heart attack is “the last person you’d expect” (randomness & fate)
e. g. COPD & smoking = people are sceptical about link due to citing people who smoked but did not have COPD, instead attributing disease to familial tendency to respiratory illness & workplace exposure to pollution
What is a health behaviour? Give some examples of health behaviours.
Activity undertaken for purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness
e.g. smoking more common in manual workers
Higher social class more likely to have a POSITIVE definition of health
Incentives for quitting more evident for groups who could expect to remain healthy - more able to focus on longterm investments (quitting is a rational choice)
Incentives for quitting less evident for disadvantaged groups - focus on improving immediate environment; smoking is a coping mechanism, may be a normalised behaviour (smoking is a rational choice)
What is an illness behaviour? Give some examples of illness behaviours.
Activity of ill person to define illness and seek solution
Most symptoms never get to a doctor - symptom/illness “iceberg”
- culture e.g. stoical attitude
- visibility/saliency of symptoms
- extent to which symptoms disrupt life
- frequency & persistence of symptoms
- tolerance threshold
- information & understanding
- availability of resources
- lay referral
note: social sanctioning of hypochondriasis; therefore about getting the “right” symptoms to the doctor at the “right” time
What is sick role behaviour?
Formal response to symptoms, including seeking formal help and action of a person as a patient
What is a lay referral? Give some examples of the lay referral system.
It is relatively rare for someone to decide to visit a doctor without first discussing their symptoms with others (75% of patients)
Lay referral system = chain of advice-seeking contacts which the sick make with other lay people prior to/instead of seeking help from health care professionals
Explains:
- why people may have delayed in seeking help
- how/why/when people consult a doctor
- role as a doctor in their health
- use of health services & medication
- use of alternative medicines
e. g. decision of people with RA to seek medical advice based on:
- symptom experience
- symptom evaluation
- knowledge of RA & treatments
- experience of & attitudes towards health professionals
Therefore, people who experienced significant and rapid impact on functional ability presented EARLY; people who developed explanations for symptoms that related to preceding activities presented LATE (only presented when they recognised explanation was inadequate to explain symptoms)
e. g. women and first MI have trouble interpreting, understanding, and linking symptoms
- tried to self manage discomfort and chest pain
- difficulty making final decision to seek medical help
- problem due to difficulty recognising variation/mildness of some symptoms (perception of MI is that is it sudden and happens to “coronary candidates”)
What are the different types of people and adherence to lay beliefs?
Deniers & distancers (~50%) = deny having disease/deny having “proper” disease
- claim symptoms do not interfere with everyday life
- use complex/drastic strategies to hide symptoms
- therefore do not adhere to treatment (relies on accepting identity of disease)
Acceptors = accept diagnosis & medical advice completely
- normal life involves having control over symptoms through medication
- do not feel stigmatised by accepting identity of disease
Pragmatists = only use preventative medication when symptoms are bad
- accept disease but only view it as a mild, acute illness
What are lay beliefs?
How people understand and make sense of health and illness
NOT watered-down version of medical knowledge
- constructed by people with no specialised knowledge
- socially embedded
- drawn from many sources (cultural, social, & personal knowledge + experience & biography)
Definitions of health and illness vary
e.g. between cultures, subcultures, communities, generations
Potential gaps between lay and medical concepts
