Week 11 Flashcards
Health & Neuropsychology (39 cards)
What is the definition of health psychology?
The study of psychological and behavioural processes in health, illness and healthcare
What are the 3 common elements in all definitions of health psychology?
- The examination of the relations between behavioural, cognitive, psychophysiological and social and environmental factors and the establishment, maintenance and detriment of health.
- The integration of psychological and biological research findings in the design of empirically based interventions for the prevention and treatment of illnesess.
- The evaluation of physical and psychological status before, during and after medical and psychological treatment.
What is the role of a psychologist in health?
- Understand the reasons that people engage in unhealthy behaviours
- Create interventions
- Create health policies/promotion campaigns
- Conduct Assessment into Health behaviour/problems to improve individual outcomes.
What is the aim of assessments in health psychology?
To provide a valid formulation that gives the members of the health care team a complete understanding of the patient.
Also integrates the components of the biopsychosocial perspective which then leads to an integrated treatment plan.
Another goal:
Facilitate the study of health-related variables
What are some methods of assessment in health psychology?
Questionnaires
Self-Monitoring
Direct Behavioural Observations
Clinician-Administered Rating Scales
Psychophysiological Measures
What are common questionnaires in health psych?
A large number of self-report questionnaire measures are used in health-care settings and research on health psychology issues
Screening is essential for identifying, treating and monitoring clients with psychological symptoms.
Screening measures need to be brief and have demonstrated psychometric properties.
What are some areas of assessment in health psych?
Health Psychology can entail the evaluation of patients presenting with an enormous array of physical diseases and psychological disorders
We will focus on two common areas of assessment in health care settings:
- Stress
- Quality of life
What is stress?
A response to a situation that involves demands, constraints or opportunities
What is anxiety?
An emotional state marked by worry, apprehension and tension
What are methods to measure stress (Physiologically)
Polygraph
Hormonal Secretion
- Corticosteroids (Cortisol)
- Catecholamines (Norepinephrine and Epinephrine)
What are some methods to measure stress (Non-Physiologically)
Psychological Symptoms
- Distress
Life Events
- Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
- List of Recent Experiences (LRE)
What are some pros to measuring life events (health psych)
- Representatives of stressful events
- Relatively quick and easy to complete
What are some cons to measuring life events (health psych)
- Weak link btwn stress and illness
- People may interpret events differently, and the individual impact is not accounted for.
- May be confounded with measures of illness
- Not clear if some events are desirable or undesirable
What is the STAI?
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
Good Norms + Alternate Forms
Two Scales (Trait/State)
Trait
- Personality Characteristic
- 20 items
- 4 point scale
- Good Test-Retest
- Good Concurrent
State
- Emotional Reaction
- Low Test-Retest (Expected)
- Good Concurrent
What is the definition of QoL?
Quality of Life
- An individual’s evaluation of their overall life experience at a given time
What can influence QoL?
- Physical Health
- Psychological Health
- Level of Independence
- Social Relationships
- Environment
- Spirituality/Religious and Personal Beliefs
What are some reasons to measure QoL in Clinical Practice?
- Measure to Inform
- To increase understanding about the multidimensional impact of illness and factors that moderate impact to a) inform interventions and b) inform patients - Measure to evaluate alternatives
- To identify which interventions have the best outcomes - Measure to promote communication
- Unlikely to be primary motive
- Engaging patients in QoL assessments so health profs can address areas that they may not have addressed.
What are the 2 types of QoL measures?
- Generic Measures
- Disease-Specific Measures
What is a generic measure of QoL?
Allows for comparison between different illness groups, but often fails to address some of the unique QoL issues for that illness.
Self Evaluation of QoL
308 Questions
Good collection of demographic/prognostics data essential:
What is a disease-specific measure of QoL?
Has ‘added value’ in addressing disease-specific issues, but does not allow for the same amount of cross-illness comparability.
Stroke-Specific QoL Scale (SS-QOL)
49 items
5-Point Likert Scale
12 Domains Covered
What are some methodology problems in measuring QoL?
- Numerous measures of QoL in some specialties
- Little Standardisation
- 2 Prerequisites for standardisation
a) Primary Research thru concurrent evaluation of measures
b) Secondary Research thru structured reviews of measures - Recommendations from such QoL scales may not be able to be used clinically
What is Clinical Neuropsychology?
Focuses on relo btwn brain functioning and behaviour
Focuses on higher-order functions
- Cognitive, Fine Motor, Sensory and emotional functioning
Who were the roots to neuropsychology?
Paul Broca and Carl Wernicke
What was Alexander Luria’s contribution to neuropsychology?
Proposed the existence of three function units within the brain, each responsible for a variety of functions for both simple and complex behaviour/cognitive functions
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