Chapter 3 Flashcards
How are disease and illness different?
Disease refers to the process of physical damage within the body, which can exist even in the absence of a label or diagnosis.
Illness refers to the experience of being sick and having a diagnosis of sickness.
People can have a disease and not be ill.
Separate conditions that overlap - e.g. when a person feels ill and has also received a diagnosis of a specific disease.
Describe how physicians are gatekeepers of healthcare.
Physicians not only determine disease by their diagnoses, but also sanction it by giving a diagnosis. Hence, the person with symptoms is not the one who officially determines his or her health status.
What are the two stages of dealing with symptoms?
Illness behaviour and sick role behaviour.
What is illness behaviour? (& examples)
Consists of the activities undertaken by people who experience symptoms but who have not yet received a diagnosis. Illness behaviour occurs before diagnosis.
E.g. Determining their state of health and discovering suitable remedies.
What is sick role behaviour (&examples)
The term applied to the behaviour of people after a diagnosis. People engage in sick role behaviour in order to get well. Occurs after diagnosis
E.g. having surgery, keeping medical appointments, taking pills regularly.
What are the six conditions that shape people’s response to symptoms?
- personal factors
- gender
- age
- socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural factors
- characteristics of the symptoms
- conceptualization of disease.
Describe personal factors and how they shape people’s response to symptoms.
Includes people’s way of viewing their own body, their level of stress, and their personality traits.
People typically seek medical attention due to anxiety about their condition.
People who experince more stress are more likely to seek health care than those nder less stress, even with equal symptoms.
Participants who scored higher on neuroticism generally had high self-reports of illness (whether or not objective data confirmed this). Also reported more symptoms. Sough medical care more.
Describe how gender differences shape people’s response to symptoms
Women more likely than men to use health care.
Why are women more likley than men to use health care?
Women tend to report more body symptoms and distress.
Men tend to report only life threatening symptoms (e/g/ heart disease). Female gender role allows women to seek many sorts of assistance whereas the male gender role teaches men to act strong and to deny pain and discomfort.
Describe how age affects people’s willingness to seek Health care
Young adults show greatest reluctance to see a health professional (prob. because they feel indestructible).
As ppl age, they must decide whether their sx are due to aging or disease. Not easy!
When attributing to age, likely to prolong seeking medical care, which ^ sx and ^ mortality risk
What are older people more likely to do than younger or middle aged adults?
1: attribute sx to age
2: exp. more severe and lengthy sx
3: Attribute their sx to some other disorder
4: Have had previous exp. with cardiac problems.
Describe how socioecenomic factors influence peoples willingness to seek health care
People in higher SES exp. fewer sx and report higher level of health than people at lower SES levels.
Higher income people are morel likely to seek med care.
However, poorer people are overrepresented among the hospitalized, an indication that they are much more likely than middle and upper income people to become seiously ill.
Lower SES = wait longer before seeking health care. Less access to medical care, travel longer to reach hospitals,
Describe how ethnic factors influence peoples willingness to seek health care
Euro Americans most likely to report visiting a physician.
Ethnic differences in insurance coverage = differences in health care use.
Don’t have differences in information/knowledge, but minorities face more discrimination, and thus are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing/getting medical care.
Describe how sx characteristics influence peoples willingness to seek health care
Visibility of the sx
Perceived severity of the sx
Extent to which a sx interferes with a person’s life
Frequency and persistence of the sx
What are the five components of disease conceptualization process?
1: identity of the disease
2: time line (the time course of both disease and treatment)
3: Cause of the disease
4: Consequences of the disease
5: Controllability of the disease.
