Week 1: What is Health Psychology? Flashcards
What is health?
A complete state of physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
What is wellness?
The optimum state of health
What is health psychology?
The study of psychological influences on
- how ppl stay health
- why they become ill
- how they respond when they get ill
What is the biomedical model and what is the assumption of the model?
Exclusive focus on the body and somatic processes
Assumption: All illness can be explained by aberrant somatic processes: psychological and social processes are IRRELEVANT
What are the problems with the biomedical model?
- Overly reductionist (low-level, cellular & chemical processes)
- Assumes mind-body dualism
- Emphasis on disease over health promo/maintenance
- Cannot account for sig. variation among indivs. in development & treatment of illness
What does mind-body dualism refer to?
Assumes that the mind and body exist separately and do not affect each other
Ignores the possibility that social and psychological processes can affect bodily states
What is the biopsychosocial model of health?
Health is shaped by a complex interplay of biological, psychological and social factors
What are the focuses of the biopsychosocial model?
- Micro- and macro-level processes
- Focuses on both illness and health maintenance
- Highlights importance of patient-practitioner r/s - improves patient’s use of services & efficacy of treatment
What are the reasons for the need for health psychology?
- Increase in chronic illnesses
- Expanded healthcare services
- Advances in research, technology & treatment
- Increased medical acceptance
What are the reasons for the need for health psychology in Singapore?
- Aging population and dementia
- Fight against diabetes
- Stress and burnout
What is theory?
Set of analytic statements that explain a set of phenomena (e.g. disease, wellness, etc.)
What are the advantages of a theory-driven field?
- Provides guidelines for research & interventions
- Generates specific predictions that can be tested & modified
- Helps tie together loose ends (i.e. try to explain variation)
What is the theory of planned behaviour?
Beliefs about outcome of behaviour
Evaluations of outcome
–> Attitude to specific behaviour
Normative beliefs abt behaviour
Motivation to comply
–> Subjective norms
Perceived behavioural control
==> Behavioural intention ==> Behaviour
What are the research methods in health psychology?
- Correlational study
- Prospective study
- Retrospective study
- Experiments and quasi-experiments
What is correlational research?
Measures whether changes in one variable correspond with changes in another variable
What are the advantages and disadvantages of correlational research?
Adv: Highly adaptable
Disadv: Direction of causality is unclear
What is prospective research?
Looks FORWARD in time to examine how people and/or health-related variables change over time
What is longitudinal research?
Same people assessed at multiple time points
What is retrospective research?
Looks BACKWARD in time to reconstruct the conditions that led to a current situation
What are experiments?
Two or more differing conditions are created to which people are RANDOMLY ASSIGNED, and their responses are measured
What is the advantage of experiments?
Allows causal inferences to be made
What are randomised clinical trials (RCTs)?
Conducted to evaluate effectiveness of treatments or interventions over time
What is evidence-based medicine?
Medical interventions go through rigorous testing and evaluation of their benefits before they become the standard of care
What are quasi-experiments?
Rely on pre-existing groups with no random assignment
What is the disadvantage of quasi-experiments?
Third variables/confounds cannot be used in quasi-experiments because random assignment is not used
What is epidemiology?
Study of the frequency, distribution and causes of infectious and noninfectious disease in a population
What is morbidity?
No. of cases of a disease that exist at some given point in time
What is mortality?
No. of deaths due to particular causes
What are the methodological tools in health psychology?
- Tools of neuroscience (e.g. fMRI)
- Mobile and wireless technologies (e.g. Ecological Momentary Interventions, EMI; ambulatory BP monitoring devices)
- Meta-analysis
What is the role of health psychologists?
- Etiology and correlates of health and illness
- Prevention and treatment of illness
- Health promotion and maintenance
- Improve the healthcare system and the formulation of health policies
