Week 4: lay belief and health promotion Flashcards
what do lay beliefs affect?
they impact on behaviour and compliance with treatment
how does lay belief impact on behaviour and compliance with treatment? (types of lay belief)
deniers
distancers
pragmatists
acceptors
what is a negative definition in health belief?
health = the absence of illness
without negative
what is a functional definition in health belief?
health = the ability to do certain things
able to function
what is a positive definition in health belief?
health = a state of wellbeing and fitness
generally feeling of positive
what are deniers?
people who don’t believe they have ill health
e.g. I don’t have asthma
what are distancers in health belief? (using the example of asthma)
I don’t have REAL asthma
OR
I’m BORDERLINE diabetic
(distancing oneself from the disease)
what are pragmatists in health belief?
I’ll only use salbutamol when needed (but won’t use salmeterol) - take treatment when needed but not in prevention
(Pragmatists, no Prevention)
Did use preventive medication but only when asthma was bad
What are acceptors in health belief?
Accepted diagnosis and doctors’ advice completely
Normal life involved having control over symptoms through medication
what is health behaviour?
activity undertaken for purpose of maintaining health and preventing illness
what is illness behaviour?
activity of ill person to define illness and seek solution
what is sick role behaviour?
formal response to symptoms, inc seeking formal help and action of person as patient
what are high social class more likely to have?
a positive definition of health
what are lay beliefs?
how people UNDERSTAND and make SENSE of health and illness.
They are SOCIALLY embedded beliefs constructed by people with NO SPECIALISED knowledge
what is the illness iceberg?
only a SMALL percentage of those infected with a pathogen may MANIFEST symptoms and / or signs of illness (tip of iceberg)
(majority without symptoms manifestation - below surface)
what is the lay referral system?
the chain of advice-seeking contacts which the sick made with OTHER LAY PEOPLE PRIOR to or INSTEAD of seeking help from healthcare professionals
discuss the determinants of health and disease
lots of factors:
- physical environment (natural surrounding)
- socio-economical environment (e.g. housing, access to clean water)
- individual genetics / characteristics / behaviours (genetic predisposition, diet, smoking)
what are primary health promotion strategies?
to PREVENT ONSET of disease or injury by reducing EXPOSURE to risk factors
(promoting public health e.g. reduce exposure to cigarette - reduce lung cancer)
what are secondary health promotion strategies?
to detect and treat a disease at an early stage to PREVENT PROGRESSION and future complications (e.g. screening)
what are tertiary health promotion strategies?
minimise the effects of an ESTABLISHED disease (i.e. treatment)
(treatment to ensure patient status as good as they can be with the illness)
illustrate some of the dilemmas raised by health promotion
- ethics of interfering in people’s life (didn’t know about the disease prior to screening)
- victim blaming
- fallacy of empowerment (false sense of power over their own health)
- reinforcing negative stereotypes (e.g. smokers and lung cancer)
- prevention paradox
what is the prevention paradox?
interventions that make a difference at population level might not have an effect on individual level - therefore, the patient might not take part
(e.g. helps 10/1000, doesn’t help an individual in the 990)
recognise the difficulties of evaluating outcomes of health promotion: process
process: assesses the process of implementing
how it was from start to finish
recognise the difficulties of evaluating outcomes of health promotion: impact
assesses its immediate effects
what happened straight afterwards
recognise the difficulties of evaluating outcomes of health promotion: outcome
measure long-term condition
(decay and delay: so difficult to measure e.g. stop smoking, takes 10 years for smoking rates to drop, if people start smoking again, then health benefits drop)
recognise the difficulties of evaluating outcomes of health promotion: difficulties
- lag time to effect (delay and decay)
- confounding factors
- high cost of research
what influences illness behaviour?
- Culture – e.g. ‘stoical’ attitude
- Visibility or salience (prominence) of symptoms
- Extent to which symptoms disrupt life
- Frequency and persistence of symptoms
- Tolerance threshold
- Information and understanding
- Availability of resources
- Lay referral
what are the 4 main themes influencing a patient’s decision about whether they seek medical advice?
- symptom experience
- symptom evaluation
- knowledge of RA and treatments
- experience of, and attitudes towards, health professionals
what are early presenters (in health)?
experienced significant and rapid impact on functional ability
how do delayers relate to their disease?
often developed explanations for symptoms that related to preceding activities
what normally prompts consultation?
Recognition that their explanation was inadequate to explain symptom progression frequently prompted consultation
what is a key factor influencing how quickly medical advice is sought?
Symptom evaluation
how a patient perceives and evaluates - think about - their symptoms
why do people delay seeking medical advice?
- perceptions of the disease - doesn’t think they fit the conventional box
- they are still able to function, so don’t think they have the disease
- Don’t recognise variation and mildness of some symptoms
(4. lack of knowledge of symptoms)
