Health beliefs and health behaviour Flashcards
What beliefs are thought to regulate someone’s health behaviour?
1) perceived threat of an illness
2) perceived susceptibility of the person to the disease
3) perceived benefits of performing the behaviour
What is behaviour guided by?
one’s perception of the threat and possible outcomes of the diseases NOT the actual threat
What influences a person’s health behaviour?
Risky health beahaviours and beliefs about medicine influence our health beliefs which subsequently influence our health behaviours. Our prior experience of medicine influences our beliefs about it.
Define health behaviour:
Two types:
those that INCREASE risk and those the PROMOTE health
What are some examples of good health behaviours?
Exercising using sunscreen protected sex oral hygiene visiting the doctors diet- 5 a day
What are some examples of bad health behaviours?
smoking
drinking
reckless driving
illicit drug use
Why are health beliefs so important ?
because they drive our health behaviours
What did Taylor demonstrate about the importance of modifying health behaviours in 1995?
1) reduces the number of deaths due to diseases related to lifestyle factors
2) increases longevity and average life expectancy
3) enhances quality of life - preventing or delaying onset of disease
4) reduces the amount of money spent on healthcare- costs of chronic diseases are huge
What are the “differences” in health behaviours?
WITHIN-INDIVIDUAL VARIATION :why does an individual’s behaviour vary over time or across different settings - e.g. smoking in social situations
BETWEEN-INDIVIDUAL VARIATION: in particular health behaviours -e.g why do some people attend screening while others don’t
How many people in England Wales die of avoidable causes?
1 in 4
- men are at greater risk than women
- also regional differences, with the highest being in north england
What are the associated behaviours causing circulatory diseases?
smoking - active and passive poor diet excessive alcohol consumption lack of exercise lack of early detection poor adherence to treatment
What are the associated behaviours causing malignant neoplasms?
smoking
poor diet- high fat, low fibre, high salt
excessive alcohol consumption
lack of exercise
What are the associated behaviours causing respiratory diseases?
smoking
lack of early detection
poor diet
What public health actions need to be carried out to reduce avoidable deaths?
encourage better behaviours
for treatable conditions, people need to make more aware of the signs and symptoms so early detection can take place
What are the determinants of health behaviours?
Biological factors: e.g. addiction
psychological factors: depressed patients less likely to adhere to treatments
social and family factors
health status: if you have a respiratory disease you may find it harder to exercise
socio-demographic factors: age, sex, class, environment
health service provision: some countries are not as lucky as us to have access to the NHS
systems of provision and services: shops need to stock the right foods and access to spaces to carry out exercise
macroeconomics: buoyancy of the economy - need money to buy healthy foods
legislation: laws on age to buy alcohol and cigarettes, wearing seatbelts
cultural, national and religious factors- preparing food, engagement in sex, alcohol
What is Rosenstocks 1966 health belief model (most widely used)?
A person’s readiness to take health action is determined by 4 main factors
1) perceived susceptibility of the disease/condition
2) perceived severity of the disease/condition
3) perceived benefit of taking the action
4) perceived barriers to performing the action
What did Becker add to Rosenstocks health belief model?
- health motivation
- demographic variables
- psychosocial variables
- cues to action
What other factors affect your health behaviour?
attitudes personality traits knowledge and beliefs perceptions of risk attributions self-efficacy other sociological factors
What do attitudes significantly influence behaviours and make them easy to predict?
when attitude are held strongly
What influences persuasive communication ?
- sources of information - e.g. status and trustworthiness
- message itself - nature/level of emotional appeal (facts and figures)
- recipient - education, function of the attitudes, resistance to persuasion, latitude of acceptance
- situation or context (formal or informal)
What are the 2 stages involved in modifying a health behaviour?
1) formation of an intention to change - this doesn’t mean you will actually change your behaviour
2) involves teaching people how to change and how to maintain this change
What is the purpose of the public health model of motivating change?
designed to change a large group of peoples behaviours - generally targeted at people that engage in high-risk behaviours
What are the ways do public health use change peoples behaviours?
persuasion e.g. if you smoke you stink
modification of relevant incentives - e.g. smoking damage the tissues in your penis
legislation - wearing seatbelt
What is the locus of control ?
Locus of control is used to explain the differences in behaviour
- internal locus of control= belief that rewards and punishment in life are under direct personal control - increase likelihood of positive life adjustments in terms of chronic illness risk
- external locus of control = belief that positive or negative things that happen in one’s life are the result of luck or chance- tend to be more pessimistic/hopelessness in terms of chronically ill
