test 1 Flashcards
what is health psychology
branch of psychology that concerns individual behaviors and lifestyles affecting a persons physical health (formal definition)
what do health psychologists do
engage in academic research, professional practice and education and training across an array of health care settings
-health promotion, disease prevention, research in etiology and consequences, healthcare policy and suggestions
what are the factors that influence health
biological, psychological, behaviors, family, culture, environment, spirituality, and health system and policies
what is health
WHO: the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease
definition has changed overtime: went from gods and spirits to absence of disease
what does the definition of health imply
that a person with a chronic illness could be healthier than a person without one
what are the main models of health
biopsychosocial, wellness model, and social ecological model
what is the biopsychosocial model
recognizes illness is a result of microorganisms (bacteria-> disease) and the influence of other health detriments
what are the criticisms of the biopsychosocial model
- doesnt incorporate everything (environment and spirituality)
- too much emphasis on bio, too little emphasis on psychosocial
explain the wellness model
-includes spirituality: not necessarily referring to any type of god or religion, but spirituality in this sense takes a broader meaning (life has a broader purpose)
- spirituality is important to include in health model because
1) beliefs influence how you handle stress and negative events
2) beliefs influence how you live your life (health enchanting behaviors)
3) beliefs influence quality of life and satisfaction - *all of these have a direct impact on psychological health**
explain the social ecological model
considers environment and health system and policy
what is the interdisciplinary view of health
parts of holistic health pie -> biological, psychological, sociological, environmental and health system/policy
what is important for health psychology from biological demographics? (factors that influence health and well being)
- age, race and sex
- biological genetics: if first degree relatives suffer from certain conditions (biological: heritable diseases)
- things you cant help, get it from parents
- multifactorial inheritance
what is multifactorial inheritance
caused by a combination of environmental factors and mutations in multiple genes
what are family behaviors that influence health
-things you learn from your family (ex. mimicking your family’s drinking or smoking behaviors)
what are environmental factors that influence health
- violence in community
- environmental health (trash, air quality, etc)
- rules and regulations
ex. Flint water crisis
what are sociological class factors that influence health
- health/being healthy costs money
- healthcare is expensive and there is limited access
- related to education which can help you be healthy
what are sociological beliefs that can influence health
-what is important for maintaining good health?
washing hands, vitamins, eat veggies, going to dentist (not everyone has that luxury)
what are sociological supports that can influence health
- having more social support can influence someones mental and physical health
- less symptoms, having support is more important and impactful than stressful life events
what are psychological things that can influence health
- perspective (half full v. half empty)
- coping tools
- risk-engaging in risky behavior
what are health systems and how can they influence health
ex. Affordable Care Act- directly affects one’s care and well being
- ability to get ambulance
- short and long term care
what is health policy and how can it influence health
- food safety inspections at restaurants
- wash hands at restaurants
what things that influence health are nature related and which things are nurture
nature: biological
nurture: sociological, environmental, health systems and policy
psychology is both
how has the leading cause of death changed
went from infectious disease to chronic disease from 1990-2000
how has life expectancy changed
-went from 47-74 from 1900-2000
-increased because of:
the decrease in infant mortality as an indirect result of several other factors (vaccinations, access to early care, what mothers should eat and do when expecting, and knowledge)
how does the US infant mortality rate compare to others
it is worse than other similar/comparable countries
what is the difference between mortality, morbidity and comorbidity
mortality: death
morbidity: state of being diseased
comorbidity: simultaneous afflictions
- very common
- could be because people have the same underlying risk factors (medical and mental)
what is incidence
- number of new cases of a disease in a specific population for a given time period
- if concerned with how quickly disease is spreading
what is prevalence
- total number of cases (old and new) of a specific disease in a population
- intended to represent those currently living with disease
what kind of data do you need to make comparisons
- raw data isn’t useful if we want to make comparisons
- we need to convert data to rates and percentages
- incidence and prevalence and mortality rates
what can we do with incidence prevalence and mortality rates
we can calculate the absolute and relative risk rates for developing certain conditions
what is the difference between absolute and relative risk
absolute risk: chance of developing an ailment
relative risk: risk of acquiring a disease by persons who are members of an exposed group
how are absolute risk and relative risk related
absolute risk is influenced by relative risk
- relative risk > 1: people with risk factor have higher risk of getting ailment
- relative risk < 1: people with risk factor have lower risk than people without risk factor
- relative risk = 1: people with risk factor have equal risk than people without risk factor
what is important to know about relative risk
even if you have a relative risk greater than one, if the underlying absolute risk is small, your chance of getting the disease is still very small
why are relative risk factors important to know
- insight into factors related to illness
- possible to lower your risk, take precautionary measures
- compound risk factors increase relative risk
what are the two types of research
1) experimental: experiments, interventions, quasi designs
2) non experimental: correlational, case study, focus groups
explain qualitative v quantitative
qualitative: a lot of data from a small number of people
quantitative: a lot of data from a lot of different people
what is a case study
an in-depth exploration of one person, which allows fora great wealth of knowledge about that person
-useful with a very rare condition
what is a focus group
group of individuals that share a common trait or characteristic
- gather info from the individuals
- generate insight to that group of individuals
- explore decision making and encourage interactions
what is correlational
uses statistical methodology (will always generate an “r” to represent correlation)
- r reports the association between variables on a scale from -1 to 0 (no relationship) to 1
- number represents strength of relationship
what does a -1 r mean
- negative correlation, not bad or weak
- one goes up as the other goes down
what is “p”
measure of statistical significance and how likely it is that the results are due to chance
- r and p always go together
- with r a big value is good
- with p a big value is bad, should be < 0.05
what is important to remember about r and p
correlation does not equal causation
what are experiments
experiments must have at least one variable that is manipulated by the experimenters and at least one variable that is measured (IV and DV)
what is the difference between independent and dependent variables
- dependent variable is the measured variable that the values will be a result of the participants behaviors, choices, etc
- independent variable is the manipulated variable that researchers are actively controlling how the participants experience that variable
if there is an effect between the two, the outcome of the DV depends on the IV
what is a control group
neutral condition, absent of manipulation
what is random sampling
who is chosen to be in your study, who is part of your sample
- there is a population of interest
- study sample is smaller than the population but it should be representative of the population (probability sampling)
what is random assignment
once you’ve chosen your sample, how do you decide who is in which group
-control for confounding factors
-if the sample is large enough, this should result in an adequate distribution of participants such that no group is homogenous
what is a longitudinal design
observing changes over an extended period of time
what is a cross-sectional experiment
- collecting data from a sample of participants at one time
- if its a “typical” experiment
explain the pros and cons of longitudinal and cross-sectional studies
longitudinal: need more time, need more money, need less people, participant attrition is a problem because people can drop out
cross-sectional: need less time, need less money, need more people because a lot of participant variability
what are interventions
looking for the extent to which some type of treatment or program improves one’s mental or physical health
- always do a pre-test or baseline measure
- then introduce intervention with different groups
- post-test
- *control groups are important for intervention to try and prove the change is not attributable to some other factor**
- have to use randomized clinical trials