Session 4 Flashcards
What are lay beliefs?
They are how lay people make sense of health and illness, with no specialised knowledge.
They are socially embedded and complex.
What are the 3 health perceptions?
Negative health perception - health is the absence of disease.
Positive health perception - health is a state of wellbeing and fitness.
Functional health perception - health is the ability to complete certain tasks.
What are lay theories of health and illness based on?
Their own personal experiences of illness and what they have observed.
It may lead to medical knowledge being rejected if it is incompatible with prior beliefs.
What are the issues with lay epidemiology?
It can be difficult to understand why and how illness happens.
There are almost always exceptions to certain conditions, and why something happens.
What is health behaviour?
Where somebody who does not have an illness strives to prevent illness and maintain their health.
What is illness behaviour?
The activity when somebody has an illness to define that illness and seek a solution.
What is sick role behaviour?
It is the actual response that somebody undertakes in response to becoming ill - seeking help.
What is the symptom/ illness iceberg?
The vast majority of illness and symptoms experienced by the public are never seen by doctors.
What are some factors that influence illness behaviour?
Lay referral.
Culture.
Extent to which symptoms disrupt ones life.
Tolerance threshold.
Availability of healthcare.
Time and money available.
What is lay referral?
Where a non-healthcare professional seeks the advice from another non-healthcare professional, usually a friend or family member, before/ instead of seeking professional help.
Why is understanding lay referral important?
It can help explain why a patient is there.
It can help explain why a patient did not come earlier.
It can help explain why patients may want certain medications.
What are the 3 groups to treatment adherence?
1) deniers and distancers - do not engage with recommendations and treatment.
2) accepters - fully comply with treatment and recommendations.
3) pragmatists - only comply with treatment and recommendations when they believe they require it.
Why are individuals from a lower socioeconomic background more likely to engage in health damaging behaviours?
They are less likely to have a positive health definition.
They are more likely to focus on improving the immediate environment, to use these behaviours as a coping mechanism.
What are long-term conditions?
They are conditions that can be controlled but not cure, that have a profound influence on the lives of sufferers.
They increase in frequency throughout the population as age increases.
What are illness narratives?
The way in which people with an illness describe their illness. They are often a way of making sense of their illness.
What is illness work?
The work performed to deal with receiving a diagnosis and the coping mechanisms to deal with the manifestations of illness. It is dealing with bodily changes and changes to their self identity.
What are the 3 aspects of illness work?
Getting a diagnosis.
Managing the symptoms.
Self-management.
What is the expert patient programme, and what are the benefits and drawbacks?
It is empowering a patient to take responsibility for managing their own illness.
Positives = reduced hospital admissions, and helps them cope and manage the condition better.
Negative = not possible for those who are critically ill, and they may not fully understand their illness.
What is everyday life work?
The work performed by somebody with a long term condition to mentally deal with the condition, as well as the actions performed. It can lead to the person trying to retain their old-self or accepting the illness as their new-self.
What is emotional work?
It is the work performed to preserve the emotional wellbeing of those around the patient - downplaying symptoms and maintaining normal activity.
It can lead to disruptions in friendships. It can impact the role that somebody has within their relationships.
What is biographical work
It is the loss of self, where the former self-image is lost without a new one being formed. It may lead to them having a new perception on life.
What is identity work?
It is how people see themselves and how others see them, based on the illness that they have. It can be a defining aspect of their identity.
What is stigma?
It is a negatively defined condition attribute, trait or behaviour.
What is discreditable stigma?
It is stigma based on something that cannot be seen but is experienced if somebody finds out.
