Lay Beliefs

Question 1

What does lay beliefs refer to?

Answer 1

• How people understand and make sense of health and illness
• Constructed by people with no specialised knowledge
• Socially embedded
• Complex - drawn from many different sources

Question 2

Perceptions of health - What is the negative definition?

Answer 2

Health equates to absence of illness

E.g. as long as they have no symptoms or diagnosed conditions they are in good health.

• Commonly found amongst people from lower socioeconomic groups

Question 3

Perception of health - What is the functional definition?

Answer 3

Health is the ability to do certain things

E.g. Being able to function in a way that is meaningful to the individual

• Commonly found in older people where their idea of functionalities is related to:
  
  • Staying independent, in their own homes and not moving to care homes

Question 4

Perception of health - What is the positive definition?

Answer 4

Health is a state of wellbeing and fitness

E.g. Health is something to work towards, be maintained and achieved overtime, something you can achieve in the long term by making short term changes.

• Commonly found in people of higher socioeconomic positions

Question 5

What are the two distinct issues of Lay epidemiology

Answer 5

1. understand why and how illness happens
2. Why it happened to a particular person at a particular time
   - Many of us observe and generate hypotheses from experiences around us.

Pg 6-7

Question 6

What is the interplay between lay and medical beliefs?

Answer 6

Pg 8

Question 7

What is the influence of lay beliefs on behaviour?

Answer 7

1. Health behaviour - activity undertaken for purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness
2. Illness behaviour - activity of ill person to define illness and seek solution. ( What would they do if they have symptoms and how would they interpret them and whether or not they will seek medical help).
3. Sick role behaviour - formal response to symptoms, including seeking formal help and action of person as patient

Question 8

Why is bag health choices more prevalent in lower socioeconomic groups (Health behaviour)?

Answer 8

Higher social class more likely to have positive definition of health

Pg 11 example using smoking

Question 9

What influences illness behaviour?

Answer 9

• Culture
• Extent to which symptoms disrupt life.
• Tolerance threshold
• Availability of resources
• Information and understanding
• lay referral

Question 10

What is the Lay referral system?

Answer 10

The chain of advice-seeking contacts which the sick male with other lay people prior to - or instead of - seeking help from health care professionals.

• Lay referral can encourage people to seek formal help, but can also inhibit this as well

Question 11

What are the four main themes that influence decision?

Answer 11

1. symptom experience
2. Symptom evaluation
3. Knowledge of the disease and the treatments
4. Experience of, attitude towards, health professionals

Question 12

What is the three broad groups of people that won’t take their medication?

Answer 12

• Deniers and distancers - didn’t accept they had the illness and didn’t take treatment
• Acceptors : accept they have the illness and follow everything they need to do
• Pragmatists: accept it but not as a long term factor