Health Psychology Flashcards
(24 cards)
Application of health psychology
applies knowledge about social processes/social relationships and attitude and behaviour change to understanding and promoting health
Key areas of application:
reducing harmful/risky health behaviours
increasing health promoting/preventetive behaviours
coping and stress
Health behaviour
any activity undertaken for the pupose of preventing or detecting disease or for improving health/wellbeing
how many people do NCDs kill each year
41 million
list some NCDs
cardiovascular diseases
cancer
chronic respiratory diseases
diabetes
behavioural determinants of health and illness
fruit and veg intake
physical activity
nutrition
alcohol consumption
smoking
sedentary lifestyle
social cognitive models of health behaviour change
models created to change our beliefs on how we can change our health
individual differences -> health behaviours -> non communicable diseases
list some social cognitive models of health behaviour change
health belief model
theory of reasoned action
theory of planned behaviour
social norms theory
implementation intentions
social cognitive theory
protection motivation theory
binge drinking - national statistics
having over 8 units in a single session for men and over 6 units for women.
ToPB to predict binge drinking
predicting intentions: attitudes, self efficacy and percieved control (-)
predicting behaviour: intentions, self efficacy and past binge drinking
ToPB to reduce binge drinking
exposure to ToPB messages resulted in more negative conditions about binge drinking
However - no effect of intervention on frequency of binge drinking at follow up - in line with intention behaviour gap
Interventions targeting ToPB constructs can successfully change attitudes, norms and self-efficacy and intentions
Social Norms Theory
An individuals behaviour is influenced by the perceptions of how their peers think and act
Social comparisons are linked to the potenetial influence of social norms for changing health behaviour
Norms provide information about which action is desirable, along with how, when and where the action will be achieved
Social norms theory to predict binge drinking
overestimate alcohol consumption among other students
social norms theory to reduce binge drinking
norm messages to correct misperceptions of social norms related behaviours
smoking nantional statistics
13.8% of people aged 18 years and above smoked cigarettes
Protection motivation theory (rogers)
individuals are motivated to take protective actions against health threats
threat appraisal
perceptions of the vulnerability and severity of the threat
intrinsic and extrinsic rewards
coping appraisal
beliefs about the effectiveness of the recommended action and one’s ability to perform it
-response efficacy
self efficacy
response costs
response efficacy
The belief that the recommended action will effectively reduce or eliminate the threat
self efficacy
The individual’s confidence in their ability to perform the recommended action
response costs
The perceived barriers or negative consequences of taking the recommended action
HOW IS PMT used to understand health behaviour
- PMT components are manipulated via persuasive communication to see the efefcts on health behaviour
- PMT used as a social cognition model to predict health behaviour change
what three major components do fear appeals have
- the message - addresses issues that instil critical amounts of fear
- the audience - needs to be targeted to those who are most susceptible to the risk
- the recommended behaviour - gives instruction on what to do to avert or reduce the risk of harm
criticisms of fear appeals
-only work when accompanied by an efficacy message
-defensive responses
