Lecture 8 & 9

Question 1

Health Psychology

Answer 1

• Influences how people stay healthy, why they become ill and how they respond to illness
• Holistic Perspective
• Biopsychosocial Model

Question 2

Components of social and economic health

Answer 2

• education
• employment
• income
• social support
• housing
• ethnic identity
• gender

Question 3

Significance of where you live

Answer 3

• access to health services
• affordable, healthy food options
• road safety
• public transport
• parks
• community cohesiveness

Question 4

Definition of Illness Perceptions

Answer 4

an organised set of beliefs about symptoms, how illness affects us and its impact on our lives

Question 5

Importance of Illness Perceptions

Answer 5

serve to guide our reactions to symptoms, diagnosis of illness and how we process illness information

Question 6

Key components of Illness perceptions

Answer 6

• identity
• cause
• timeline
• consequences
• control/cure

Question 7

Identity

Answer 7

• the illness label or diagnosis and associated symptoms

- symmetry rule

Question 8

Cause

Answer 8

• beliefs about what may have caused the illness
• “Why me?”
• Making sense of illness - adjustment

Question 9

Timeline

Answer 9

• perception of the likely duration of the illness
• acute, cyclic & chronic
• may influence adherence to treatment

Question 10

Consequences

Answer 10

• the expected effects of the illness on physical, social and psychological wellbeing and functioning
• can be important predictors of behaviour responses &adjiustment

Question 11

Control/Cure

Answer 11

• beliefs concerning the extent to which the illness can be controlled or cured by the individual and/or medical intervention
• sense of control may result in active coping strategies
• uncontrollable perceptions = more anxiety + more symptoms

Question 12

How do Illness Perceptions develop?

Answer 12

• media
• personal experience of illness
• education
• family and friends with illness

Question 13

What is Stress?

Answer 13

• a challenge to an individual’s capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands - the demands of our lives exceed our ability to cope
• psychological & emotional arousal

Question 14

What happens when we are stress?

Answer 14

We engage in cognitive & behavioural efforts to cope with the stress

Question 15

Effects of Stress of Physical Health

Answer 15

• complex and multifactorial
• affects behaviour
• undermine immune function

Question 16

What is Social Support?

Answer 16

Information from others that an individual is loved and cared for, esteemed and valued, and part of a network of communication and mutual obligation

Question 17

Types of Social Support

Answer 17

• Appraisal support
• Tangible assistance
• Information
• Emotional support

Question 18

Direct effects hypothesis

Answer 18

• Social support is generally beneficial during non-stressful times as well as during stressful times
• Social support is an ongoing positive part of an individual’s life and this support makes a person less susceptible to stress in the first place - therefore the likelihood of becoming ill is reduced

Question 19

Buffering hypothesis

Answer 19

• Benefits of social support are evident during periods of high stress
• When you are experiencing minimum stress, social support may have few physical or mental health benefits

Question 20

Effects of Social Support on Health and Illness

Answer 20

• lower likelihood of illness
• help recovery
• few complications during pregnancy and childbirth
• lower rates of heart attack
• adherence to medication
• use of health services
• lower rates of psychological distress

Question 21

What is social prescribing?

Answer 21

referral to non-clinical services designed to support a wide range of social, emotional or practical needs