Psychology C3 - maintenance of behavioural change

Question 1

reasons for non adherence: stress

Answer 1

-stress can affect non-adherence in at least four ways
1. poverty
2. chaotic lifestyles
3. anxiety
4. memory

Question 2

1. poverty

Answer 2

-not having enough money
-non-adherence = worse in lower socioeconomic groups

Question 3

2. chaotic lifestyles

Answer 3

-being disorganised can create stress
-therefore, people forget to take their medication or follow medical advice

Question 4

3. anxiety

Answer 4

-attention becomes narrower when anxious
-speaking to a professional, latch onto key words and ignore the rest.
-example, hyperfixate on the word ‘cancer’ rather than positive information, such as ‘it is treatable due to being in early stages’

Question 5

4. memory

Answer 5

-even when clients understand medical advice, adherence is impossible if they cannot remember it
-between 40%-80% of medical advice= immediately forgotten (only half of what is remembered is correct, Kessels 2003)

Question 6

research support
(evaluation)
+

Answer 6

-research evidence to support stress as an explanation of non-adherence
-example, one study investigated 10,000 clients with diabetes and/or hypertension, researchers found that clients experiencing high levels of stress were non-adherent to medication and/or advice (Roohafza et al.)
-supports view that stress can substantially increase risk of non-adherence

Question 7

short term vs long term effects
(evaluation)
-

Answer 7

-long-term effects = unclear
-example, studies tend to look at short-effects, unclear how non-adherence changes over time with stress levels
-as non-adherence increases, stress decreases, however, cannot be sure of this.
-role of stress = unclear and is hard to develop practical interventions to increase adherence