Health Beliefs & Behaviour Flashcards
what is a health behaviour?
Any activity undertaken by an individual believed to be healthy for preventing disease or detecting it at an asymptomatic stage
what is the number 1 cause for preventable illness and death?
smoking
what are the reasons for people being overweight in the UK?
–complex reasons, increased calorie intake, auto-dependency
what are the 5 modern day killers?
dietary excess, alcohol lack of exercise smoking unsafe sexual behaviour
what are the 3 levels are which behaviour change can be targeted?
o Population – e.g. smoking ban.
o Community – e.g. spin classes.
o Individual – e.g. healthy eating adverts.
what is education most effective for?
discrete behaviours – e.g. getting a child vaccinated
what is tailored messaging most effective for?
messages to a particular audience are most effective – e.g. condom use to teenagers.
what do also people require to change habitual lifestyle behaviour alongside knowledge?
social support
what are the cues for unhealthy eating?
senses (visual, auditory, olfactory)
location
time
emotion
what are example of positive reinforcement?
dopamine, boredom, praise for high-fat meal for family
therefore the response is more likely to happen again
examples of behaviour where positive reinforcement is not achieved?
i.e. when a response doesn’t receive the responses back to make it happen again in the future
1) Delayed positive reinforcement:
e. g. for healthy eating (effects take too long to have an effect).
2) Going unnoticed:
e. g. efforts at dietary change go unnoticed by others (no positive reinforcement).
example of negative reinforcement
avoid painful emotions by comfort eating
example of punishment
preparing a low-fat meal is criticised.
what are the 4 techniques for inducing behaviour modification techniques?
- stimulus control techniques
- counter conditioning
- contingency management
- naturally occurring reinforcers
what are stimulus control techniques?
no “danger” foods in house, eat only at dining table, small plates, etc
what is counter conditioning?
identify “high-risk” situations (e.g. stress) and make healthier responses
what is contingency management?
encourage partners to praise healthy eating, plan rewards for successful weight loss.
what are examples of naturally occurring reinforcers?
improved self-esteem
reduction in symptoms (e.g. breathlessness).
these back up your response as the correct response
when can compliance be highest?
when there is a reward as a consequence e.g. money
what are the limitations to reinforcement programmes? e.g. money incentive for stopping smoking
o Lack of stimulus generalisation – only behaviour affected was regarding the specific trait being rewarded.
o Poor maintenance – rapid extinction of behaviour once primary reinforcer disappeared.
o Impractical and expensive.
what is the let down of fear arousal methods?
high fear levels have negative effects in reducing bad behavioural effects.
which group of people have a strong effect on altering behaviour?
friends:
o Adolescents are particularly susceptible.
o Best friends have the greatest effect/influence.
o Training to avoid peer pressure into smoking had a significant effect on reducing numbers of new smokers
what is the expectancy- value principle?
The potential for a behaviour to occur is a function of the EXPECTANCY (that the behaviour will lead to a specific outcome) and the VALUE of that outcome.
what does the Health Beliefs Model describe?
The likelihood of an action is dependent on the perceptions i.e belief of the person and the modifiers than actually make them do it
[Susceptibility, Seriousness, Benefits, Costs, Cues]
perceptions: look at susceptibility and seriousness of illness
modifiers: knowledge, the perceived threat of the illness and the cues for behaviour change
action: perceived benefits of action, any barriers?
