Lecture 8 & 9 Flashcards
Health Psychology
- Influences how people stay healthy, why they become ill and how they respond to illness
- Holistic Perspective
- Biopsychosocial Model
Components of social and economic health
- education
- employment
- income
- social support
- housing
- ethnic identity
- gender
Significance of where you live
- access to health services
- affordable, healthy food options
- road safety
- public transport
- parks
- community cohesiveness
Definition of Illness Perceptions
an organised set of beliefs about symptoms, how illness affects us and its impact on our lives
Importance of Illness Perceptions
serve to guide our reactions to symptoms, diagnosis of illness and how we process illness information
Key components of Illness perceptions
- identity
- cause
- timeline
- consequences
- control/cure
Identity
- the illness label or diagnosis and associated symptoms
- symmetry rule
Cause
- beliefs about what may have caused the illness
- “Why me?”
- Making sense of illness - adjustment
Timeline
- perception of the likely duration of the illness
- acute, cyclic & chronic
- may influence adherence to treatment
Consequences
- the expected effects of the illness on physical, social and psychological wellbeing and functioning
- can be important predictors of behaviour responses &adjiustment
Control/Cure
- 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
How do Illness Perceptions develop?
- media
- personal experience of illness
- education
- family and friends with illness
What is Stress?
- 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
What happens when we are stress?
We engage in cognitive & behavioural efforts to cope with the stress
Effects of Stress of Physical Health
- complex and multifactorial
- affects behaviour
- undermine immune function
What is Social Support?
Information from others that an individual is loved and cared for, esteemed and valued, and part of a network of communication and mutual obligation
Types of Social Support
- Appraisal support
- Tangible assistance
- Information
- Emotional support
Direct effects hypothesis
- 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
Buffering hypothesis
- 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
Effects of Social Support on Health and Illness
- 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
What is social prescribing?
referral to non-clinical services designed to support a wide range of social, emotional or practical needs
