Test: Psychology and Life- 1

In the health psychology model, the individual is no longer simply seen as a passive victim of some external force, such as a virus. Acknowledging the role of behaviours such as smoking, diet and alcohol, for example, means that the individual may be held responsible for their health and illness. According to health psychology, the whole person should be treated, not just the physical changes that occur due to ill health. Health psychology encompasses behaviour change, encouraging changes in beliefs and coping strategies, and compliance with medical recommendations. Because the whole person is treated, the patient becomes partly responsible for their treatment. For example, she may have a responsibility to take medication, and to change beliefs and behaviour. No longer is the patient seen as a victim.

The belief that parents’ health is the sole determinant of our health problems is not one of the cognitive factors related to unrealistic optimism according to Weinstein whereas the other four factors are associated with unrealistic optimism about health issues.

Her thinking about coughing and stopping smoking reflects the stage of contemplation based on this stage of change model.

The five components are:• severity – ‘Bowel cancer is a serious illness’;

• susceptibility – ‘My chances of getting bowel cancer are high’;
• response effectiveness – ‘Changing my diet would improve my health’;
• self-efficacy – ‘I am confident that I can change my diet’; and
• fear – ‘Information about the links between smoking and lung cancer makes me feel quite frightened’.

Leventhal et al.’s five dimensions of illness beliefs are:

1. Identity – refers to the label given to the illness (the medical diagnosis) and the symptoms experienced; for example, ‘I have a cold . . .’ (the diagnosis) ‘. . . with a runny nose’ (the symptoms).
2. The perceived cause of the illness – this may be biological (e.g. a virus, in the case of a cold, or an injury or lesion, in the case of another type of illness) or psychosocial (e.g. stress or health-related behaviour). Patients may also hold representations of illness that reflect a variety of different causal models; for example, ‘My cold was caused by a virus’ versus ‘My cold was caused by being run down’.
3. Time line – refers to beliefs about how long an illness will last, whether it is acute (i.e. short term) or chronic (i.e. long term); for example, ‘My cold will be over in a few days’.
4. Consequences – refers to the patient’s perceptions of the possible effects of the illness on his or her life. These may be physical (e.g. pain, lack of mobility), emotional (e.g. loss of social contact, loneliness) or a combination of factors; for example, ‘My cold will prevent me from playing football, which will prevent me from seeing my friends’.
5. Curability and controllability – refers to the patient’s beliefs about whether their illness can be treated and cured, and the extent to which its outcome is controllable (either by themselves or by others): for example, ‘If I rest, my cold will go away’, ‘If I get medicine from my doctor, my cold will go away’.

These statements are examples of illness beliefs; specifically, the former is an example of beliefs about illness curability and controllability and the latter is an example of beliefs about the cause of illness. Self-efficacy and susceptibility refer to two of the five components of the protection motivation theory of health behaviour, and are not represented by both of the statements above. Behavioural intentions refer to how a person plans to act in the future and adherence refers to the extent to which a patient follows recommendations.

Improved immune function, reduced alcohol use and reduced number of doctor’s visits have been associated with expressive writing and talking. CHD has not been explicitly associated with expressive writing techniques.

Appraisal of the stressor and how to best cope with it plays a key role in the experience of stress and its link to illness. Coping and sympathetic activation occur subsequent to the primary appraisal of the stressor as stressful or not. Degree of fear experienced and the role of prior experience are not primary components of the stress-illness link.

Research indicates that the following beliefs influence the development of a health professional’s original diagnosis:

• The nature of clinical problems – One health professional who believes that illness is determined by biomedical factors may develop different diagnoses from another who believes in psychosocial factors.
• The probability of the disease – Health professionals also have different beliefs about how common a health problem is, e.g. assuming that a child with a cough probably has a common childhood illness such as asthma.
• The seriousness of the disease – Health professionals are motivated to consider the ‘pay-off ’ in reaching a correct diagnosis, which is related to their beliefs about the seriousness and treatability of an illness. For example, the professional may diagnose appendicitis in a child with abdominal pain, as this is a serious but treatable condition – and the benefits of arriving at the correct diagnosis for this condition far outweigh the costs involved if the diagnosis is wrong.
• The patient – The original diagnosis will also be influenced by the health professional’s existing knowledge of the patient, including medical history, degree of support at home, psychological state, and beliefs about why the patient came to see the doctor.
• Similar patients – We know that stereotypes can confound a decision-making process. Yet without them, consultations between health professionals and patients would be extremely time consuming. So a health professional will typically base their decision partly on factors such as how the patient looks/talks/walks, and whether they are reminiscent of previous patients.

The negative emotional experience resulting from a mismatch between the individual’s appraisal of a stressor and the individual’s ability to cope with the stressor is a common definition for stress.