Resilience and Behavior Change: Understanding Protective Factors and the Stages of Change in Health Psychology

1. VCE PSYCHOLOGY UNIT 4 Resilience and behaviourchange • Study design dot points: • resilience as a positive adaption to adversity including the relative influence of protective factors with reference to: adequate diet and sleep (biological); cognitive behavioural strategies (psychological); support from family, friends and community (social) • models of behaviour change with reference to the transtheoretical model including the stages of pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance/relapse

3. It’s not quite all that simple… • No two people or experiences are alike • Everyone responds differently • Two pieces of research that help explain why it is not all that easy • Our resilience can be a determining factor • Change needs to go through stages

4. Health psychology • The branch of psychology known as health psychology combines research on physical health and psychology to better understand how this relationship contributes to overall wellbeing • For health psychologists an individual’s behaviours, together with their thoughts and feelings, are central to understanding and improving their health. • Hence, they attempt to promote health-enhancing behaviours, as opposed to health-impairing behaviours.

5. Resilience • An example of a health-enhancing behaviour is resilience. • Resilience is our ability to recover from adversity or tough times. • Resilience is important as it helps to protect us against mental health problems and maintain our wellbeing. • High resilience has been linked to greater life satisfaction and happiness. YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8

6. The biopsychosocial model of health • Health psychology follows the biopsychosocial model of health, where health and illness are interrelated through biological (for example, genetics), psychological (for example, stress and beliefs about health) and social (for example, culture, gender, family and relationships)

8. Protective factors Image used under license from YAYimages

9. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS • Biological factors such as sleep, diet and exercise can all affect mental health SLEEP • It is important to remember that sleep is also necessary to maintain mental health and to be aware of the recommended amount of sleep for your age. • Resilienceimproves when an individual has enough sleep, because they are able to deal with adversity and challenges better. • Chronic sleep deprivation can create negative thinking and emotional vulnerability. • A link has also been demonstrated between poor sleep and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression

10. DIET • A good diet is essential as it not only provides us with the energy to sustain an active lifestyle and promote healthy growth and development but it is great for our brains as well. • When people lead a healthy lifestyle, they feel better and fitter and are more able to cope with challenges. • There is also growing evidence to suggest that a healthy diet may contribute to the management and prevention of specific mental health problems such as depression, schizophrenia, ADHD and Alzheimer’s disease.

11. PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS • Research has indicated that optimistic people are at lower risk for anxiety and depression when they confront stressful events • The ability to demonstrate positive adjustments to negative life events is known as resilience, and is another important psychological contributor to mental health. • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) involves cognitive behavioural strategies that are psychological techniques used to help maintain or improve mental health. • Theaim of these strategies is to change unhelpful beliefs and thought patterns that affect a person’s mood and behaviours • In turn, it is thought that the changes in mood and behaviour will affect negative beliefs and thought patterns

12. MiCBT • Another type of CBT involves mindfulness-based therapies; this is known as Mindfulness-integrated cognitive behavioural therapy (MiCBT). • Mindfulness-based therapies teach people to observe and change their connection to maladaptive thoughts and emotions. • Thisapproach requires them to deliberately focus their attention on the present experience in a non-judgemental manner through meditation and other mindfulness practices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBpEYa74w2Y

14. SOCIAL SUPPORT FACTORS • Social support is also important for maintaining physical and mental health. • Social support refers to the resources other people provide. • Social support can come from family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors. • It is not only emotional, but tangible. • For example, it may be financial, or in the form of transportation or housing. • Social support may also include informational support such as advice, information and feedback. • Studies have shown that social support decreases psychological distress in people who are dealing with stressful life events

15. Change is hard Images used under license from YAYimages

16. Transtheoretical model of behaviour change • The transtheoretical model of behaviour change assesses an individuals readiness to change by looking at the different stages an individual may go through as they move towards healthier behavioura • First developed in the 1980s by alcoholism researchers James O. Prochaska and Carlo C. DiClemente.

17. Stages of the transtheoretical model Image used under license from Wikimedia commons

18. Stages of the trans theoretical model

19. Why is it so hard to change behaviour? Skipping stages or rushing through is likely to lead to setbacks There are different strategies for each stage:

20. Change takes time and effort! Images used under license from Wikimedia commons