SOCIAL Health Psychology Flashcards
(24 cards)
What are the key areas of application of health psychology?
-reducing harmful, risky health behaviours.
-increasing health promoting/ preventive behaviours.
-coping and stress.
What are health behaviours?
Any activity undertaken for the purpose of preventing or detecting diseases or for improving health wellbeing (Connor & Norman, 1996).
-protective (positive) vs risky (negative) health behaviours.
What are non-communicable diseases? (NCD)
huge risk to morbidity + increased burden on health care system. 41 million people each year worldwide.
cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes.
Outline some behavioural determinants of health & illness?
-sedentary lifestyle, smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable intake, physical activity, nutrition.
How do health behaviours become habits?
Difficult to break.
Often come with immediate costs and long-term benefits.
-tendency to maximize immediate rewards and ignore long term benefits.
-e.g. changing from sedentary lifestyle to regular excersize.
-health benefits also reinforced by social environment and peers.
-alcohol consumption, smoking, drug use etc.
How do we explain health behaviour?
-social
-genetic factors
-demographics
-emotional
-perceived symptoms
-cognition
-access to healthcare
-personally
=Individual differences-> health behaviours-> non-communicable diseases.
What is binge drinking?
Office for national statistics 92017): having over 8 units in a single session for men and over 6 units for women.
=Most common in Scotland (37.3), Wales (30.4%) and England (26.2%).
North West has highest amount of binge drinking.
Theory of planned behaviour on Binge drinking?
Intentions= proximal predictor of health behaviour.
Norman & Connor, 2006:
-398 undergraduate students completed ToPB questions on binge drinking.
=Predicting intentions:
–attitudes (+), self-efficacy (+) and perceived control (-) as significant predictors.
–no significant effect of subjective norms.
= Predicting behaviour:
–intentions (+), self-efficacy (+) and past binge drinking (+) as significant predictors.
RESULTS: Exposure to ToPB messages resulted in more negative cognitions about binge drinking.
-Weaker intentions to negative in binge drinking.
-More negative attitudes towards binge drinking.
BUT no effect of intervention on frequency of binge drinking in line with intention behaviour gap.
Interventions targeting ToPB constructs can successfully change attitudes, norms and self-efficacy and intentions.
What is the social norms theory (SNT)?
-individuals behaviour influenced by perception of how peers think and act.
-Social comparisons linked to potential influences of social norms for changing health behaviour.
-Norms provide information about which action is desirable, along with how, when and where action achieved.
-peer groups engage in healthy behaviours, then this becomes source of information influence.
What is the effect of the social norms theory on predicting binge drinking?
Overestimation of drinking norms:
-students tend to overestimate alcohol consumption among other students.
-nearly half of students (42%) incorrectly believe their peers regularly drink 6 or more drinks in one session.
How does perception of peer drinking predict own drinking behaviour?
students who correctly identify that most students drink less than 6 drinks in a session, more likely to drink responsibly.
-correcting overestimation of drinking norms may help reduce binge drinking.
Detail Robinson et als intervention into drinking norms?
Intervention: norm messages to correct misperception of social norms, related behaviours (i.e. drinking norms).
-Norm messages influence normative drinking perceptions but only among norm believers.
-Norm messages were ineffective for ppt who overestimated peers’ drinking at baseline.
What where some issues with Robinson et al’s study?
Norm messages not successful in increasing intentions to drink responsibly.
Messages not seen as credible.
Heavy drinking-> important aspect of UK university culture, although may be changing.
-Norm messages suggest majority students don’t engage in binge drinking. May not be as believable.
-Impersonal nature of social norms messages-> unsuccessful at changing drinking behaviours.
Detail Neighbours, Larimer & Lewis (2004) study into personalised normative feedback.
252 heavy drinking university students in US.
Intervention:
-personalised feedback about own drinking.
-perceived drinking norm.
-actual drinking norm.
Intervention led to:
-changes in perceived drinking norms.
-reduced drinking at 3-and 6-months follow up.
How can we use SNT to reduce binge drinking?
Dotson et al, 2015 meta-analysis of PNF interventions to reduce alcohol consumption in student drinkers.
-significant but small effects of PNF interventions for reducing alcohol use versus control groups- 3 fewer drinks per week.
-reduction in alcohol related harms associated with intervention; though effects were minimal.
Detail smoking in the UK?
Smoking begins early (adolescence):
-initial experimentation, experiences peer pressure to smoke, develops attitudes about what a smoker is like.
13.8% people aged 18 years and above smoked cigarettes= around 8 million people in UK. Smoking is highest among those aged 25-35yrs.
What is the protection motivation theory?
Explains and predicts individuals’ coping responses to perceived threats, such as health risks or environmental hazards. It emphasizes cognitive processes
Detail Rogers, 1975 Threat Appraisal?
-Intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
Smoking makes me feel calmer.
-Perceived severity of the threat.
Smoking means I could get cancer.
Evaluate the probability of being vulnerable tp threat.
What are coping appraisals?
Response efficacy: the efficacy of the health behaviour for dealing with the threat.
‘Smoked for 20 years, won’t make a difference to my risk of cancer if I quit now’
Self-efficacy or confidence for being able to engage in behaviour.
‘I tried to quit five times before and it never works’.
Response cost: ‘if i quit smoking i will be more anxious/ less sociable’.
Why is Rogers protection motivation theory useful?
Helps understand what kind of messaging can help change people’s health behaviour.
->Messages focusing on threat appraisal: heighten threat by targeting perceived severity of the problem or the probability of vulnerability. Threat alone can backfire.
->Messages targeting coping appraisal: assuring individuals of response efficacy (e.g. quitting smoking will reduce risk of cancer).
-increasing individuals self-efficacy (e.g. they are capable of quitting smoking).
How is PMT used to understand health behaviour?
Norman et al 2005:
-PMT components are manipulated via persuasive communications to see the effects on health behaviour e.g. fear appeals.
-PMT used as a cognition model to predict health behaviour change, e.g. associations with preventive behaviour.
What are the 3 major components of Fear Appeals?
- The Message; addresses issues that instil critical amounts of fear.
- Audience; needs to be targeted to those who are the most susceptible to risk.
- Recommended behaviour: gives instructions on what to do to avert or reduce risk of harm.
How are fear appeals and cigarette packaging linked?
Dijkstra & Bos (2015);
Methods; 118 smokers, either graphic fear appeal of text warnings on cigarette packages. Measured fear, disgust, intention to quit smoking and quitting activity over 3 weeks. + measured disengagements beliefs.
Results: fear appeals + low disengagement beliefs. -stronger intention to quit.- higher percentage of smokers cutting down. - no significant effect on quitting.
=Only when disengagement beliefs did not interfere with fear appeals, smokers’ perceived level of threat was increased- lead to some effects on behaviour.
What are the caveats in fear appeals?
Tannenbaum et al 2015: review of 127 studies.
Fear appeals are more effective.
-used for one time behaviours vs repeated behaviours.
=one-time behaviours, e.g. getting vaccinated.
=behaviours must be repeated over and extended period of time, e.g. exercising.
-For women because women tend to be more ‘prevention-focused’ than men.
Caveats 2:
Arousing fear could result in defensive response or ‘risk denial’.
People who are most susceptible to threat may react with denial-> see also disengagement beliefs.
Severity of possible consequences not always translate into effective change.
Messages that are too extreme can make people ignore the message.
