Health Psychology

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Health Psychology

• Aspinwall and Duran

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Health Psychology Definition

• Health Psychology - Addresses questions related
  to health
• An example What is the best way to promote
  health and prevent disease? And What effects
  does personality have on health?

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Old Health Perspectives

• Biomedical
• This model assumes illness is the consequence of
  biological pathogenesis
• Health the absence of disease
• Health is restored by mechanical means

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Old Health Perspectives Cont

• In treating health the biomedical way the major
  diseases of the time declined
• Polio, Cholera, Influenza

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New Health Perspectives

• The major diseases of today are heart disease,
  cancer, and lung disease
• Preventable through modifications in behavior
• Also clear now that psychological attitudes and
  social factors maintain unhealthy behaviors

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Biomedical Model Replaced

• Biopsychosocial Model
• Health and Illness are products of biological,
  psychological, and social factors

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Areas of Research in Health Psychology

• Psychological adjustment to serious mental
  illness or negative life events
• Health beliefs and influences on behaviors to
  prevent or detect illness
• Mind-body connections in the cause and treatment
  of serious mental illness

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Areas of Research in Health Psychology

• Psychosocial factors related to health and
  illness
• Measurements of the quality of life

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Adjustment to Serious Illness and Negative Life
Events

• Adjustment of emotional reactions (habituate or
  adapt to a new comparison standard)
• Adjust unrealistic beliefs of unrealistic good
  world to less benevolence
• A search for meaning helps change attitudes and
  priorities

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Research on adjustment to Serious Illness and
Negative Life Events

• Regain a sense of mastery over ones health
• Enhance sense of self worth (selective evaluation
  downward social comparisons)
• Individual differences

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Research on what causes people to engage in
health behaviors

• Beliefs involving perceived barriers to taking
  action
• Beliefs involving perceived susceptibility to
  illness
• Beliefs involving perceived severity of illness

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Also responsible for reducing or maintaining
unhealthy behaviors

• Self-efficacy
• Response efficacy
• Social Norms

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Research on Mind-Body Connections in the Causes
and Treatments of Illness

• 1/3 of hospitalized medical patients with chronic
  conditions suffer from psychological disorders
• Compared to 2-4 of the general population
• Health psychologists train doctors in rapport
  to deal with this issue

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Research on Psychosocial Factors Related to
Health and Illness

• Hardiness Committed to important goals, believe
  they can control events in their lives, appraise
  problems as challenges
• Research shows hardiness is related to self
  reports of good physical and mental health

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Research on Psychosocial Factors Related to
Health and Illness

• Explanatory style the tendency to explain
  beliefs in certain ways
• Pessimistic vs. Optimistic
• Pessimism equals unhealthy habits
• Dispositional optimism an overall optimistic
  state in which generally expects the future to be
  good

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Research on Psychosocial Factors Related to
Health and Illness

• Optimism is related to better reports of physical
  health and quicker recovery from illness
• Psychological Inhibition Concealing problems
  and negative emotions (bad for psychological and
  physical health)
• Social Support may be particularly beneficial
  in highly stressful situations

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Research on Quality of Life Measures

• Use to measure the impact of illness and
  treatments on patients
• Compare effectiveness of different treatments for
  same illnesses
• Decide among different treatments when funds are
  limited
• To date there are no widely accepted definitions
  of quality of life

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Research on Challenges to Adopting and
Maintaining Specific Health Behaviors

• Health Psychologists
• James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente
• Created the five stages of change involved in
  stopping high risk behaviors or adopting healthy
  behaviors

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5 stages of change

• Precontemplation- not thought about
• Contemplation intend to change in 6 months
• Preparation plan to change within 30 days and
  making some attempts
• Action have changed for up to 6 mos
• Maintenance continued change for more than 6
  months