Health Behaviour and Primary Prevention Flashcards
(40 cards)
What are the 5 goals of health promotion?
- achieve - successful modification of health behaviours
- reduce - deaths
- delay - time of death
- expand - years to enjoy life free of complications of chronic disease
- reduce - costs in the health system
What are the 2 goals of primary prevention?
What are the strategies to reach these two goals
- replacing poor health habits with good ones
- Strategy: altering problematic health behaviour through intervention - taking measures to combat risk factors of an illness before it develops
- Strategy: keep people from developing poor health habits
What factors affect a person’s health? (8)
demographic factors
age
values
personal control
social influence
perceived symptoms
access to the health care system
knowledge and intelligence
How does health fluctuate with age? (4)
Childhood - good
Adolescence - deteriorates
Young adulthood - deteriorates
Older adults - improves
What does the Health Locus of Control Scale measure? (3)
degree to which people perceive their health to be under:
- personal control
- control by the health professional
- control by chance
What are 4 barriers that prevent modification of poor health behaviours?
- little incentive for practicing healthy behaviours
- not knowing when to change a health habit
- emotional factors
- instability of health behaviours
How are emotional factors related to a person’s health?
- poor health behaviours can be pleasurable, automatic, addictive, and resistant to change
- threatening messages lead people to respond defensively due to psychological distress
- perceiving oneself as less vulnerable so a health threat is considered less relevant
- false sense of security due to minimizing risks
How can health behaviours be unstable? (5)
Use the example of smoking
habits not related to each other
- e.g., not smoking but also not wearing a seatbelt
unstable over time
- e.g., stop smoking for a year but restart due to stress
different habits controlled by different factors
- e.g., smoking is related to stress, not wearing a seatbelt is due to a false sense of security
different factors control the same behaviour for different people
- e.g., one smokes socially, one smokes when stressed
factors controlling health behaviour change
- e.g., peer pressure initiates smoking but it is maintained to reduce stress
What factors affect intervention in children and adolescents? (3)
window of vulnerability
teachable moments
automaticity
What are 2 key factors to keep in mind when intervening with at risk people?
- disease may be prevented in the first place
- when a risk factor has implications for only some people it makes sense to target those people
What are 3 problematic responses from at risk people?
unrealistic optimism - view their poor health behaviours as widely shared
hypervigilant behaviour - needless worrying after testing positive for a risk factor
defensiveness - minimizing the significance of their risk factor
What are the ethical risks of informing people at risk of their risk?
- not everyone at risk will develop the problem
- creating psychological distress
- genetic risk factors may not have an effective intervention
- emphasizing inherited risks can raise familial issues
What are factors of important health promotion in the elderly? (4)
- taking steps to reduce accidents
- reducing inappropriate use of prescription drugs
- vaccinations against influenza
- remaining socially engaged
Explain the Health Belief Model
whether a person practices a health behaviour depends on 2 factors:
- perceived personal threat
- belief in effectivity a particular health practice
What is perceived health threat influenced by? (3)
- general health values
- specific beliefs about personal vulnerability
- beliefs about consequences of the threat
What is perceived threat reduction influenced by? (2)
- whether it is thought to be effective
- whether it is worth it
What is a flaw of the Health Belief Model?
does not consider self-efficacy factors
Explain the Theory of Planned Behaviour (3)
health behaviour is a direct result of a behavioural intention
intentions are plans of action in pursuit of behaviour goals and are a result of several personal beliefs
What are behavioural intentions made up of according to the Theory of Planned Behaviour? (3)
- attitudes towards the specific action
- subjective norms regarding the action (acting on what others think + motivation)
- perceived behavioural control (if I perform an action, it will have its intended effect)
Use the example of weight loss to explain the Theory of Planned Behaviour
- Attitude towards specific action
- belief of outcome - diet = losing weight = improve my health
- evaluation of outcome - is it worth it? - Subjective norms
- normative beliefs - what do my friends think about dieting?
- motivation - approval from other for losing weight - Perceived behavioural control
- am I capable of going on a diet?
What are strengths of the Theory of Planned Behaviour? (4)
- predicts between 55% and 71% of intentions for health behaviours
- accounts for how much control a person believes they have
- identifies the importance of social pressures and norms
- indicates rationality in terms of evaluating beliefs and norms’
What are the limitations of the Theory of Planned Behaviour? (6)
- omits temporal elements
- may not initiate action if health habits are deeply ingrained
- ignores automatic behaviours
- assumes linear decision making process
- assumes the person has the required resources
- doesn’t account for other variables such as fear, past experiences, etc
Explain the Transtheoretical Model of behaviour change (5)
5 stages of change:
- Precontemplation
- Contemplation
- Preparation
- Action
- Maintenance
Explain the precontemplation stage of the Transtheoretical Model (3)
- no intention of changing behaviour
- not aware of having a problem
- seek treatment due to pressure from others but revert back to old behaviour
