Session 4 - Lay Beliefs and Health Promotion

Question 0

What is the functional definition of health?

Answer 0

Health is the ability to do certain things

Question 1

What is the negative definition of health?

Answer 1

Heath equates to the absence of illness

Question 2

What is the positive definition of health?

Answer 2

Health is a state of well being and fitness.

Question 3

Define health behaviour:

Answer 3

Activity undertaken for purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness.

Question 4

Define illness behaviour:

Answer 4

Activity of ill person to define illness and seek solution.

Question 5

Define sick role behaviour:

Answer 5

Formal response to symptoms including seeking formal help and action of person as patient.

Question 6

What definition of health do higher social classes have and why is this?

Answer 6

Higher social classes are more likely to have a positive definition of health.
Incentives of giving up smoking are more evident for groups who could expect to remain healthy. More able to focus on long term investments. Therefore quitting is a rational choice.

Question 7

What might something like smoking be seen as a rational choice to lower social groups?

Answer 7

Incentives to quit are less clear. There is more of a focus on improving immediate environment, smoking may be a coping mechanism, may be a normalised behaviour.

Question 8

What is the symptom or illness iceberg?

Answer 8

Only a small proportion 12% of people who experience a symptom of ill health ever reach a doctor.
There is lot of people who never reach a doctor the unseen part under the water. Almost half people did nothing and 35% of symptoms resulted in lay care or OTC medicines.

Question 9

What is the lay referral system?

Answer 9

A system by which people talk to others about their symptoms before consulting professionals.

Question 10

What are some of the determinants of health?

Answer 10

Environmental factors - physical environment
Social environments
Psychological environment
Genetic factors, characteristics and behaviours

Question 11

What are the 7 principles of health promotion?

Answer 11

Empowering - enable individuals and communities to take more control over determinants of health
Participatory - Involving all people involved in all stages of the process
Holistic - Fostering physical, mental, psychological and spiritual health.
Intersectoral - involving the collaboration of agencies from relevant sectors
Equitable - guided by a concern for equity and social justice
Sustainable - Bringing about changes that’s individuals and communities can sustain once funding is withdrawn.
Multi-strategy - Using a variety of strategies, policy change, organisational change, community development and legislation.

Question 12

What are some of the critiques of health promotion?

Answer 12

Structural critiques - material conditions that give rise to ill health are marginalised, focus on individual responsibility
Surveillance critiques - monitor and regulating the population
Consumption critiques - lifestyle choices seen as health risks but also tied up with identity construction.

Question 13

What are the five approaches to health promotion?

Answer 13

Medical or preventative 
Behaviour change 
Educational 
Empowerment 
Social change

Question 14

What is the aim of primary prevention?

What are the approaches?

Answer 14

Aim is to prevent the onset of disease or injury by reducing exposure to risk factors.
Can do this by vaccination
Prevention of contact with risk factors
Taking appropriate preventions regarding communicable disease
Reduce risk factors from health related behaviours

Question 15

What is the aim of secondary prevention?

What are the approaches?

Answer 15

Aim is to detect and treat a disease (or it's risk factors) at an early stage. To prevent progression or potential future complications and disabilities from the disease. 
Approaches:
Screening 
Monitoring and treating hypertension 
Screening for glaucoma

Question 16

What is the aim of tertiary prevention?

What are the approaches?

Answer 16

Aim is to minimise the effects of established disease.
To maximise the remaining capabilities and functions of an already disabled patent.
Renal transplants
Steroids for asthma

Question 17

What are some of the dilemmas of health promotion?

Answer 17

1. Interfering with people’s lives - state interventions in peoples lives.
2. Focusing on individual behavioural change ignores wider socioeconomic problems and environmental determinants of health e.g. Housing conditions, water and air quality, high perceived cost of health living.
3. Fallacy of empowerment - can give people information but they might necessarily use it or may not be in the circumstances to use it.
4. Health promotion may reinforce negative social stereotypes. E.g. People bringing it on themselves.
5. Unequal distribution of responsibility - e.g. Often down to the mother to promote a health lifestyle for children.
6. Prevention paradox - interventions may have an affect at a population level but not on the individual - due to anomalies and randomness.

Question 18

What is the definition of evaluation?

Answer 18

The rigours and systematic collection of data to assess the effectiveness of a programme on pre-determined objectives.

Question 19

What is process evaluation?

Answer 19

Focussing on assessing the process of the programme implementation.
Employs a wide range of mainly qualitative methods.

Question 20

What is impact evaluation?

Answer 20

Assessing the immediate impact of an intervention. This tends to be the most popular type of evaluation as it is easiest to do.

Question 21

What is outcome evaluation?

Answer 21

Measures more long term consequences.
Measures what is achieved e.g improvement in clients lives , reduction of symptoms, level of harm reduction.
However timing of evaluation can influence outcome.
Some things have a short term effect whereas some things take longer to have an impact. Delay and decay.

Question 22

What are some of the difficulties conducting an evaluation?

Answer 22

The design of the intervention may not allow it
Possible lag time to the event
Many potentially intervening or concurrent confounding factors
High cost of evaluative research - studies are likely to be large and long term.