Chapter 6: Health related behaviour and health promotion Flashcards
(41 cards)
What are Health behaviours?
Activity that people perform to maintain or improve health
Often involves stopping unhealthy behaviours
What are some aspects of a healthy lifestyle?
Nutrition Exercise Sleep Not smoking Limited alcohol Hygiene Wearing seatbelts Wearing sunscreen Medical checkups/screenings
What promotes health behaviours?
Beliefs and attitudes concerning… Threat, consequences, Importance, benefits , Ability, Norms. All these variables are interconnected, they have small to moderate correlations between them
What is the health belief model?
the likelihood that someone will take preventative action (i.,e, perform a health behaviour) is determine by two assessments. Two key variables: perceived threat (potential illness or symptoms) and benefits and barriers
What are the 3 factors that influence perceived threat?
The perceived seriousness of the illness: people consider how severe the natural and social consequences are if they develop the health problem.
perceived susceptibility: people evaluate the likelihood of developing a health problem.
the cues to action: people are reminded or alerted about a potential health problem (are there cues or signs in my surrounding environment that tell me to engage in a behaviour) Billboards, media campaigns, social networks.
What is perceived threat?
The degree to which people feel threatened or worried by the prospect of a particular health problem
What is the benefits to barriers ratio?
Benefits must outweigh barriers for a preventive action to occur (after weighing the pros and cons)
What are perceived benefits?
people evaluate what they will gain from changing behaviour
What are perceived barriers?
people evaluate the costs to taking the action or the obstacles they face
What is the relationship between variables in the health belief model?
Perceived susceptibility, seriousness, benefits and barriers all modified by individual characteristics. Age, sex, race, ethnic background, knowledge about health problem/behaviour (some of the things you may be able to use to help determine what your client’s perception is). • Preventive action occurs when the benefits outweigh the barriers. Likelihood of preventative action is based on the combination of the perceived threats and benefit to barriers ratio
What are the problems with the health belief model?
Various components tested, not all equally predictive of outcomes
does not account for habitual behaviours
No standard way of measuring it components
Providing cues to action is difficult (how do you get people to recognize cues?)
Stresses personal responsibility (implies that they have faulty thinking because they arent perceiving things properly)
Barriers often outweigh other components
This model assumes you have the motivation
What evidence is there for the health belief model?
Effect sizes were weak and inconsistent
Perceived barriers and benefits consistently linked to behaviour
Perceived severity only weakly predicted behaviour
Perceived susceptibility did not predict behaviour
What is the theory of planned behaviour?
people decided their intention in advance of most voluntary behaviour and intention is the best predictor of behaviour. Intention is the key variable, you need to get people to intend to be active.
What are the three variables that influence intention?
Attitudes, Subjective norms (do the people in your environment make this behaviour “normal”), Perceived behavioural control
Describe the attitude variable
An evaluative judgement about if the behaviour is a good thing to do (will it be enjoyable or miserable?)
Determined by:
- Likely outcome: the likelihood that behaviour will lead to a given result
-Reward: would outcome be rewarding?
Describe the subjective norms variable
A judgement that reflects the impact of social pressure or influence on if the behaviour is acceptable or appropriate
Motivation to comply: your desire to comply with the behaviour
Describe the perceived behavioural control variable
Person’s expectation of success in performing the behaviour (Similar to self-efficacy)
Determined by…
-Beliefs about personal competence and effort
-Complexity of the task
-Potential barriers
Define intentions
A plan or aim to engage in a behaviour. Intention behaviour gap: despite the theory’s prediction, intention only weakly predicts behaviour (Gap can be reduced)
What is the research on the theory of planned behaviour?
Many studies showing influencing of all three factors on intentions
What are the problems with the TPB?
Does not consider emotion or past experience
Intentions and behaviour are only moderately related
What were the results from the meta analysis about the TPB?
Effect sizes were moderate
All variables predicted the other variables in a manner consistent with theory
When behavioural measures were self report theory variables accounted for much more (11%)
What are the other strategies/models related to health behaviours?
- Habits
- Trans theoretical model
- Goal setting
- Goal pursuit
What are habits?
something someone performs automatically and without awareness. Typically triggered by internal or external cues
Can we change our negative habits?
Monitoring can help us become aware of the habit. Writing it down when we engage in a habit. Change might depend on if we are ready to change our habit or not.
