STAGES OF WELLNESS & ILLNESS BEHAVIOR Flashcards
(17 cards)
stage 1: symptom experience
Stage 2: assumption of the secret
Stage 3: medical care contact
Stage 4: dependent client role
Stage 5: recovery and rehabilitation
STAGES OF WELLNESS & ILLNESS BEHAVIOR
• The person is aware that something is wrong.
• A person usually recognizes a physical sensation or limitation in functioning but does not suspect a specific diagnosis
STAGE 1 : SYMPTOM EXPERIENCE
what are the three aspects of stage one?
• The physical experience of symptoms (fever, muscle pain, malaise, headache)
• The cognitive aspect (the interpretation of the symptoms in terms that having some meaning to the person, e.g. perception of having flu)
• The emotional response (e.g. fear or anxiety = worrying on the consequence of illness)
• The physical experience of symptoms (fever, muscle pain, malaise, headache)
• The cognitive aspect (the interpretation of the symptoms in terms that having some meaning to the person, e.g. perception of having flu)
• The emotional response (e.g. fear or anxiety = worrying on the consequence of illness)
• The individual now accepts the sick role and seeks confirmation from family and friends. Often, people continue with self-treatment and delay contact with health care professionals as long as possible.
• During this stage people may be excused from normal duties and role expectations.
STAGE 2: ASSUMPTION OF THE SICK ROLE
• If symptoms persists despite home remedies, become severe or require emergency care, the person is motivated to seek professional health services.
• In this stage, the client seek expert acknowledgement of the illness as well as treatment
STAGE 3: MEDICAL CARE CONTACT
what are the three types of information in stage: medical care contact
- Validation of real illness
- Explanation of the symptoms in understandable terms
- Reassurance that they will be all right or prediction of health outcome
• The patient is dependent on health care professionals for relief of symptoms.
• Accepts care, sympathy, protection from demands and stresses of life.
• Can adopt the dependent role in a health care institution, at home or in a community setting.
• The client must also adjust to the disruption of a daily schedule
stage 4: dependent client role
CONVALESCENCE – period of recovery from illness.
REHABILITATION – restoration of functioning to maximal sufficiency.
This stage can arrive suddenly, such as when the symptoms appeared in the case of chronic illness, the final stage may involve an adjustment to prolonged reduction in health and functioning
stage five: recovery and rehabilitation
period of recovery from illness
convalescence
restoration of functioning to maximum sufficiency
rehabilitation
• During this stage the client is expected to relinquish the dependent role and resume former independent roles and responsibilities.
• For people with acute illness, the time as an ill person is generally short and recovery is unusually rapid, thus most find it relatively easy to return to their former lifestyles.
• People who have long term illness and must adjust their lifestyles may find recovery more difficult.
• For clients with permanent disability this final stage may require therapy to learn how to make major adjustments in functioning
stage: recovery and rehabilitation
Effects of illness vary depending on nature, severity, and duration of illness, attitudes associated with illness, financial demands, lifestyle changes, adjustment to roles, etc
Effects of Illness
•Behavioral and emotional changes usually milder and short-lived with short-term illness
•More acute changes with severe, life- threatening, chronic, or disabling illnesses, vulnerable to loss of autonomy, including giving up decision-making to family
Impact on the client
Health care professionals can help by:
• Provide explanations about necessary adjustments
• Make arrangements whenever possible to accommodate client’s lifestyle
• Encourage other health professionals to become aware of the person’s lifestyle practices and to support healthy aspects of that lifestyle
• Reinforce desirable changes in practices with a view to making them a permanent part of the client’s lifestyle
• A person’s illness affects not only the person who is ill but also the family or significant others.
• The kind of effect and its extent depend chiefly on three factors:
(a) the member of the family who is ill,
(b)the seriousness and length of illness, and
(c) the cultural and social customs the family follows
impact on the family
The changes that can occur in the family include the following:
• Role changes
• Task reassessment and increase demands on time
• Increased stress due to anxiety about the outcome of the illness for the client and conflict about unaccustomed responsibilities
• Financial problems
• Loneliness as a result of separation and pending loss
• Change in social customs
