Psychology - health behaviours and behaviour change Flashcards
What is health behaviour?
- Any activity undertaken by “a person believing itself to be healthy for the purpose of preventing disease or detecting it in an asymptomatic stage**” (PROBLEM: may think healthy but not = subjective & exludes those that are ill or taking medications ) OR “an individul regardless of actual or pereived health status, for the purpose of **promoting, protecting or maintaining health, whether or not such behaviour is objectively effective towards that end”
- Individual choices
- = responsible for a large proportion of poor health
Health behaviours dont actually have to work, but you do it to get better:
e.g. Tooth ache cures:
Wrap black pepper seeds in a thin fabric and put on the aching tooth
Freeze marbles in the freezer and apply on the aching tooth
A cabbage leaf warmed in front of the fire, spread with butter & pepper then held against the face
Cooked pine needles
What are the two types of health behaviours?
Health-directed behaviours (primarily to prevent disease e.g. if loosing weight to reduce high bp etc.)
Health-related behaviours (primarily to improve an individual characteristic with a second ‘spin off’ for health i.e. appearance & self esteem e.g. loosing weight to look better)
In order to change health habits and behaviours we need to think about…
- Knowledge
- Attitudes (responses to people and situtions)
- Beliefs (how things ‘really’ are = not an intellectual fact -> not everyone will agree)
- Skills
- Values (how things ought to be)
Health behaviour assessment:
Assess:
- Level of understanding of contition, severitu & behaviour (Fact)
- Oral health knowledge (Fact)
- Previous compliance with health advice
- Ability for self-care
- Attitudes towards oral health
- Family/peer experiences/attitudes towards oral health care
What is self-efficacy?
An individuals confidence in determining ‘how well he or she can take the actions neccessary for producing certain results (improve the indicators & maintanance of their health)
How can we improve self-efficacy?
- Mastery (success vs failure)
- Vicarious experience (watching others & modelling)
- Verbal persuasion (suggestion, coaching & feedback e.g. get their tast back)
- Physiology/effect (well-being/mood)
e.g. with smoking: be positive (they can stop), figure out trigger points & put into place action plan (if doesn’t work see where problems were & help them to maintain)
what is the newer theory of the health behaviour model?
Theory of planned behaviour
What is the main critisism of the health behaviour model?
Focus is primaily on the individual (not context!)
List two critisisms of the health behaviour model and the theiry of planned behaviour model:
- Big assumptions (that health behaviours and intention = weighing up pros and cons; to change are based upon rationality and not habit & the patient is static -> their views dont change)
- Emotion (fear and denial)
What are the 3 types of health needs?
- Normative need (professionally defined = disease diagnosis, falls into acceptable standards & value judgements)
- Percieved need (what patient feel about what they want and what needs to be done e.g. percieves should have a GOLD crown = potential source of conflict)
- Expressed need = percieved need but vocalised
What are the different stages of change?
- Precomtemplation = no awareness = dont think you have a problem
- Contemplation = aware, motivated, confident in ability to change
- **Preparation **= negotiate e.g. give chocolate away/eating any you have/stop buying any
- Action
- Maintanance (keep it up even if someone else brings chocolate home you wont eat it = termination = achieved) or Relapse (can’t do this any more -> back into preparation)
How do you motivationally interveiw (determine which stage of change they are at) and individual?
- Precontemplation (patient set own agenda = their idea not yours!)
- Contemplation (is the patient ready to change)
- Preparation (wait/understand ambivalence = mixed feelings & negotiate & help plan)
- Action (act according to patients state)
NO DIRECT ADVICE
NO SUGGESTIONS ABOUT WHAT TO DO (get them to think it through… reflect, open questions, highlighting mixed feelings, engage patients)
How are attitudes and behaviour related?
Attitudes change behaviour & behaviour changes attitudes (no relationshop between attitudes & behaviour)
Asking someone to change their behaviour = far reaching implications
It is more useful to understand underlying processes behund attitudes & behaviour so we understand how, why and when attitudes affect behaviour
social influence process
- Conformity (= change behaviour due to percieved pressure from others e.g. being accepted/liked, social control, rules/codes of conduct = important for treatment programme compliance)
- Obedience (= response to anothers power to punish/reward = can produce extremes of behaviour n.b. electrocuting experiment video)
- Power (reward -> compliance & coersion -> compliance = short term change only! depends on how powerful you think the person is e.g. legitimate & expert -> internalisation = change behaviour)
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