Public Health And The Biopsychosocial model

Question 1

What is the definition of public health?

Answer 1

The art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised efforts of society.

Question 2

What are the different stages of preventing disease?

Answer 2

• Primary prevention e.g. posters, leaflets, legislations (sugar tax)
• Secondary prevention
• Tertiary prevention

Question 3

What are the three domains of public health?

Answer 3

1. Health improvement
2. Health protection
3. Healthcare public health

Question 4

What are the things that health improvement includes?

Answer 4

1. Smoking cessation (mutual agreement to stop)
2. Public mental health
3. Sexual health services
4. Substance misuse services
5. NHS health checks
6. Weight management
7. Public health nursing

Question 5

What is involved in health protection?

Answer 5

1. Chemical hazards
2. Emergency response
3. Infectious diseases
4. Immunisation & vaccination
5. Screening

Question 6

What is involved in Healthcare public health?

Answer 6

1. Prioritisation
2. Strategic direction and leadership
3. Evaluation and research
4. Support evidence based decision making
5. Needs assessment
6. Service design

Question 7

What did the biomedical model entail?

Answer 7

1. Traditionally medicine was not interested in psychological and social factors.
2. Biomedical model dominant in western medicine
   - Illness understood in terms of biological and physiological processes
   - Treatment involved physical intervention (drugs, surgery).

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Question 8

Why have there been improvement in death rate, infant mortality and life expectancy?

Answer 8

1. Medical advances e.g. development of vaccines, new drugs and improvement in surgical techniques.
2. Social improvements e.g. better housing, sanitation and diet

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Question 9

What are the changes in common illness and causes of death?

Answer 9

• At the beginning of the 20th century people were dying of acute (once symptoms appear, they change or worsen rapidly) infectious diseases.
• To at the end of the 20th century people dying from chronic (development and worsening of conditions over an extended period of time) diseases
• The disease at the end of the 20th century is a result of people’s lifestyles and behaviour.

Question 10

What does the Biopsychosocial model entail?

Answer 10

The model sees health and illness as complex and an interconnection between

1. Biological - physiological, genetics and pathogens
2. Psychological - cognition, emotion and behaviour
3. Social - social class, employment and social support.

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