PSY 209 Flashcards
Explain the types of health psychology
- CLINICAL HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY: This branch applies psychological principles to treat physical health problems. It helps patients manage chronic illness, pain, or other medical conditions through behavioral changes and coping strategies.
- COMMUNITY HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY: This type looks at health from a community perspective, examining how social, economic, and environmental factors influence the health of groups. It focuses on public health, prevention, and community-based interventions.
- PUBLIC HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY: This field is concerned with understanding and improving public health through psychological approaches. It involves creating programs and policies to promote health behaviors across populations.
- CRITICAL HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY: This area critiques mainstream health psychology and emphasizes how power, inequality, and social justice issues impact health outcomes. It examines the broader social and political influences on health and healthcare.
Need for health psychology
- PREVENTION OF ILLNESS: Health psychology identifies and mitigates behaviors that lead to chronic illnesses.
- HEALTH PROMOTION: It promotes healthy lifestyle choices for overall well-being.
- UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT: It explores how emotions and stress influence physical health.
- IMPROVING HEALTHCARE: Health psychology enhances healthcare policies, communication, and treatment adherence.
Significance of health psychology
- BEHAVIORAL CHANGE: It encourages positive behavioral changes to reduce health risks.
- COPING MECHANISMS: Health psychology equips patients with ways to manage illness-related stress.
- RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES: It relies on research to connect psychological and physical health.
- ENHANCED QUALITY OF LIFE: By addressing mental and physical health, it improves quality of life.
What is quality of life?
Quality of life is a measure of an individual’s overall well-being and satisfaction with life, encompassing physical health, mental state, emotional stability, social relationships, and the ability to engage in meaningful activities. It reflects how well people can pursue personal goals, meet basic needs, and find fulfillment in various aspects of life, like work, leisure, and relationships.
Define illness
Illness is a state of poor health where an individual experiences physical, mental, or emotional discomfort, often caused by disease, infection, or disorder. It affects normal functioning and may involve symptoms that disrupt daily life and require medical attention or treatment.
What is health psychology?
Health psychology is a branch of psychology focused on how biological, psychological, and social factors influence health, illness, and healthcare. It aims to understand behaviors that affect health, promote wellness, prevent illness, and improve healthcare outcomes through research and interventions.
Define disease
Disease is a medical condition that disrupts normal bodily functions, often caused by infections, genetic factors, environmental influences, or lifestyle choices, and typically characterized by specific symptoms and signs. 4 main types of disease include; Infectious diseases, Deficiency diseases, Hereditary diseases, and Physiological diseases.
Carol Ryff’s 6 factor model of psychological wellbeing
- Self acceptance
- Personal growth
- Purpose in life
- Environmental mastery
- Autonomy
- Positive relations with others
Explain mind-body relationship
The mind-body relationship refers to the interconnectedness between mental states (thoughts, emotions, beliefs) and physical health. This concept emphasizes that psychological factors can influence physical health (e.g., stress leading to heart issues) and that physical conditions can impact mental well-being (e.g., chronic pain contributing to depression). Understanding this relationship helps in approaches like holistic medicine and health psychology, where both mental and physical aspects are addressed to support overall health.
What is mind - body therapy?
Mind-body therapy is an approach to healing that focuses on the connection between mental and physical health, using techniques that promote psychological well-being to support physical healing. These therapies include practices like mindfulness meditation, yoga, biofeedback, hypnosis, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. They aim to reduce stress, manage pain, and improve overall health by enhancing the body’s natural healing response through positive mental states and relaxation techniques.
What is the biopsychosocial model in health psychology?
The biopsychosocial model in psychology is a holistic framework for understanding health and illness that considers three key factors: biological (genetics, physiology), psychological (thoughts, emotions, behaviors), and social (relationships, culture, environment). This model posits that health and well-being are the result of complex interactions among these factors, rather than being solely determined by biology or psychology alone. It is widely used in healthcare to assess, diagnose, and treat patients with a more comprehensive, individualized approach.
8 major goals of health psychology
- Understanding behavioral and contextual factors for health and illness
- Preventing illness
- Investigating the effects of disease
- Providing critical analyses of health policies
- Conducting research on prevention of and intervention in health problems
- Improving doctor-patient communication
- Improving adherence to medical advice
- Finding treatments to manage pain.
What is the health psychology related field?
Occupational health psychology
Health psychologist roles
- Consultant health psychologist
- Principal health psychologist
- Health psychologist
- Research psychologist
- Health psychologist in training / assistant health psychologist
Concepts in disease
- Acquired - Begins at some point during one’s lifetime
- Acute - Short term disease
- Chronic - Persists over time
- Congenital - Present at birth, often a genetic disorder
- Genetic - Caused by genetic mutations
- Inherited/Hereditary - Caused by hereditary genetic mutations
- Iatrogenic - Caused by medical intervention
- Idiopathic - Has an unknown cause or source
- Incurable - Has no cure
- Primary disease - Main or initial disease
- Secondary disease - Develops as a result of the primary illness
- Progressive disease - Disease that worsens till death or organ failure
- Flare up - Recurrence or onset of more severe symptoms
- Refractory - Disease that resists treatment
5 major types of wellbeing
- Emotional wellbeing
- Physical wellbeing
- Social wellbeing
- Workplace wellbeing
- Societal wellbeing
List the subdomains under the culture domains of quality of life
- Belief and ideas
- Creativity and recreation
- Enquiry and learning
- Gender and generations
- Identity and engagement
- Memory and projection
- Well being and health
Explain Health belief model
The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a psychological theory that explains why people choose to engage (or not engage) in health-related behaviors. It was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists to understand why people fail to adopt disease prevention strategies.
This theory suggests that people will adopt a health behavior if they believe:
They are at risk for a serious health problem (Perceived Susceptibility).
The health issue has serious consequences (Perceived Severity).
The benefits of changing their behavior outweigh the costs (Perceived Benefits).
The barriers to taking action are manageable (Perceived Barriers).
There is a trigger that motivates them to act (Cues to Action).
They believe in their ability to succeed (Self-Efficacy).
Example: A person starts exercising because they believe obesity increases their risk of heart disease (perceived susceptibility) and that exercising will help prevent it (perceived benefits).
Quality of life domains
An approach, called engaged theory, outlined in the journal of Applied Research in the Quality of Life, posits four domains in assessing quality of life;
- Ecology
- Economics
- Politics
- Culture
Determinants of health/factors that influence health behaviour
They include;
- The social and economic environment
- The physical environment
- The person’s individual characteristics and behaviours
Other factors include;
- Income and social status
- Education
- Physical environment
- Social support networks
- Genetics
- Health services
- Gender
Problems due to long hospitalisation
- Muscle weakness and bed sores
- Hospital acquired infections
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Blood clots from inactivity
- Depression and anxiety
- Cognitive decline
- Loss of independence
- Isolation from family and friends
- Financial strain
Theories of behaviour modification
- Health belief model
- Transtheoretical model
- Self-regulation theory
- Behaviourist learning theory
- Social cognitive theory
- Self-determination theory
- Theory of planned behaviour
Define locus of control
Locus of control is a psychological concept that refers to how individuals perceive the cause of events in their lives. It describes whether people believe they have control over what happens to them (internal locus of control) or if they think external forces determine their fate (external locus of control).
Explain CBT
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a type of psychological treatment that helps people change negative thought patterns and behaviors. It is based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are connected, and by changing the way we think, we can improve how we feel and act.
