Chapter 14

1. Chapter 14 Health Psychology Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

2. Health Behaviors • The major health problems in industrialized nations today are “preventable” diseases that are influenced by lifestyle choices people make. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

3. Health Behaviors • Health behaviors are actions undertaken by healthy people to enhance or maintain their good health. • Eating healthy foods, exercising, avoiding substance abuse, getting enough sleep, controlling weight, using sunscreen, practicing safe sex, getting health screening tests Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

4. Health Behaviors • The more health behaviors people practice, the fewer illness and the more energy they have. • College students are some of the worst offenders because the disease consequences seem so remote. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

5. Health Behaviors • Five sets of attitudes affect health behaviors: • General Health Values • Perceptions of threat posed by diseases • Belief in personal vulnerability to disease • Self-Efficacy • Belief one can perform a health behavior • Response Efficacy • Belief that the health behavior will reduce the threat of disease • For a health behavior to occur, all of these beliefs must fall into place Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

6. Living longer, living better Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

7. The Relation of Health Attitudes to Health Behavior Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

8. Health Behaviors • Some factors undermine even the best intentions to practice health behaviors • Strong situational influences (e.g., peer pressure to drink or smoke) • Negative mood • Alcohol • Immediate costs & rewards of behavior Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

9. Health Behaviors • The health attitude-health behavior model suggests that people are using systematic processing to make health decisions. • This is true when a health issue is perceived as self-relevant, but when the issue is not seen as self-relevant, heuristic processing is used. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

10. Health Behaviors • For people who live at low income levels, the cost of preventative health care and limitations on access to health care are much more important determinants of health behavior than are attitudes. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

11. Stress and Illness • Stress is a negative emotional experience accompanied by predictable physiological, biochemical, and behavioral changes Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

12. Stress and Illness • Stress is, to some degree, in the eye of the beholder. • Stressful Life Event: an event (usually negative) that requires change. • Chronic Stress can be caused by living in a noisy, crowded, crime-filled environment. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

13. Stress and Illness • Some events are more likely than others to be appraised as stressful • Events that require a person to change or expend resources • Unpleasant or negative events, • Uncontrollable or unpredictable events • Ambiguous events • Unresolvable events Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

14. Stress and Illness • In the short term, acute stress produces emotional distress and physiological strain • In the long term, chronic stress may lay the groundwork for future illness Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

15. Stress and Illness • Major stressful life events have been associated with the onset of illness • Life events that require one to make more changes (getting divorced or getting married) are more stressful than those that produce few life changes • The more life events, and the greater their impact, the greater a person’s vulnerability to illness Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

16. Stress and Illness • Daily Hasslessuch as getting stuck in traffic jams or having interpersonal conflicts may have a cumulative negative effect on health. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

17. Coping With Stress • Coping is the process of attempting to manage demands that are viewed as taxing or exceeding our resources (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

18. The Coping Process Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

19. Coping With Stress • Coping is a dynamic process • Coping begins with the appraisals we make of the situations we cope with. • These appraisals influence how people will try to cope. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

20. Coping With Stress • Indicators of Successful Coping • Reduced physiological arousal • Quick return to previous life activities • Reduced psychological distress • Successful coping depends on both internal and external resources • Internal resources include coping styles and personality attributes • External resources include money, time, social support Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

21. Coping With Stress • Coping Styles • Minimizing or avoiding threats • May be effective in the short-term but may exacerbate long-term stress • May be associated with increased physiological activation & poor health • Confronting threats • May deal more effectively with threats in the long-term, but at a short-term cost of greater anxiety • Generally more effective Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

22. Coping With Stress • Cynical Hostility (characterized by suspiciousness, resentment, anger, antagonism, and distrust of others) is a risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

23. Coping With Stress • Several personality resources may help people improve adjustment to stressful events • Dispositional optimism • Hardiness • Commitment, Control, Challenge • Conscientiousness • Writing or talking about traumatic events • Religion Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

24. Coping With Stress • Social Support may mute the effects of stress and enhance health. • Sources of Social Support • Spouse or Partner • Family Members • Friends • Social & Community Contacts • Churches & Synagogues • Co-workers or job supervisors Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

25. Coping With Stress • Ways Social Support Helps • Emotional: liking, love, empathy • Instrumental Aid: provision of goods or services during stressful times • Information about the stressor • Information that aids self-evaluation Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

26. Coping With Stress • Effects of Social Support • Lowers likelihood of illness • Speeds recovery from illness • Encourages good health practices • Improves immune function • Reduces physiological response to stress Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

27. Coping With Stress • Social Support Caveats: • Support only helps when it is supportive. Conflict-filled relationships can hurt, not help. • Social support may be most effective when it is “invisible.” If it is apparent that others are going out of their way, there are emotional costs. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

28. Coping With Stress • Stress Management Programs • Discuss role of appraisal • Behavior observation & recording • Examine controlling conditions • Recognize negative self-talk • Set goals and target behaviors • Engage in positive self-talk • Learn how to reduce physiological response • Meditation, muscle relaxation, guided imagery Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

29. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment • Deciding that one is ill is both a social and a psychological process. Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

30. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment • Labeling symptoms as illness depends on • Noticing symptoms • Self-focused, isolated, inactive, boring situation more likely to notice • Expectations that guide the interpretation of information • Vary by individual and cultural beliefs • Mood and Life Satisfaction • Prior Experience Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

31. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment • Patients form illness schemas to understand their symptoms and how to manage them • Illness can be viewed as acute, chronic, or cyclic • Sometimes people adopt inappropriate models • E.g., high blood pressure is chronic but there are few obvious symptoms, so patients may view it as cyclic; this leads them to abandon medication that they need Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

32. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment • Faulty communication can cause problems between doctors and patients Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

33. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment Doctors may:Patients may: Use jargon Fail to pay attention, Depersonalize Read too much into a doctor’s comments Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

34. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment • Patients often fail to follow doctor’s advice. Why? • Dissatisfaction with care • Lack of understanding • Non-“Medical”-seeming treatments • Long time course of treatment • Difficulty of changing habits Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

35. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment • Training doctors to communicate more effectively could help • Provide jargon-free information • Ask patient to repeat the information to ensure understanding • Use nonverbal signals of friendliness • Rely on “legitimate power” and “referent power” Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

36. Symptoms, Illness, & Treatment • Providing patients with a sense of psychological control during medical procedures helps adjustment and leads to improved recovery time • Tell them about steps they can take to control the unpleasantness of the procedure or to control their own reactions Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

37. Chronic Illness • Most of us will eventually develop at least one chronic disease that may alter our daily lives for years • Self-blame may be maladaptive for some disorders but not others • Blaming other people is associated with poor adjustment • Feeling psychological control is adaptive Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall

38. Chronic Illness • Chronic disease can produce both negative and positive outcomes Taylor, 2006, Prentice Hall