Theories for Health Psychology

Social Support Hypotheses

11/12/2013 4:35:00 PM

Stress-buffering Hypothesis High social support will be helpful to an individual in reducing stress on health only when under high stress Mechanisms of hypothesis: o Cognitive appraisal i.e. people with high ss are less likely to appraise situation as stressful o Modifying response to stressor i.e. people with high ss are more likely to find someone who offers a solution or changes the way they think Direct Effects Hypothesis High social support is helpful in impacting health under low and high levels of stress. Proposed mechanisms: o Greater sense of belonging and slef-esteem which are independent of stress e.g. more resistant to infection o Encouraged to live healthier lives i.e. social modeling effect Tend and Befriend Applies to women Increases health tend: nurturing, befriend: expand social networks Designed to protect self and offspring Sense of Personal Control Locus of Control Health LOC Self-efficacy All three suggest that personal control is dependent on: prior performance, social learning, age, gender and socio-cultural differences o When people lack personal control: Learned helplessness: high levels of stress over a longer period of time people may feel trapped/unable to avoid negative outcomes, i.e. they give up trying/striving for goals,, believe they have n

control over events or situations, fail to exert control in situations where success is possible Hygiene Hypothesis Applies to autoimmune diseases (e.g. MS) and atopic disorders (e.g. asthma) Three causes of disorders o Genetic susceptibility e.g. family history o Environment e.g. smoking during pregnancy, dust mites, diet, obesity o Early exposure to allergens and infections e.g. children less likely to have asthma if they come from a farm, have lots of interaction with animals, have older siblings, were breastfed etc. Thought that early exposure leads to quicker development of the immune system.

Health belief model: Predicts that health behaviour is the result of a set of core beliefs including perceptions of: o Susceptibility to illness e.g. chance of developing illness o Severity of illness e.g. infection vs. cancer o Costs of carrying out behaviour e.g. smoking cessation makes you irritable o Benefits of carrying out behaviour e.g. save money, good health o Cues to action e.g. advertising, anxiety, breathlessness Core beliefs can predict the likelihood the health behaviour will occur Predictive model: people who believe they are susceptible to helath problem, believe it will have serious consequences, with benefits outweighing the barriers are more likely to undertake primary, secondary and tertiary prevention activities Shortcomings of model: o Takes no account of habitual health behaviour e.g. cleaning teeth, flossing o People may forget to perform behaviour or feel incompetent to do it

o Some bheaivour is not rationally governed e.g. safe sex practices o No standard way of measuring components of HBM model e.g. perceived susceptibility and severity Theory of reasoned action Heory came from social psychology Model assumptions: o People are rational and will make predictable decisions in specific circumstances o i.e. they will decide their intentions in advance of most voluntary behaviour and our intentions are often the best predictor of behaviour intentions are determined by: o attitudes about the behaviour i.e. beliefs about the consequences of behaviour e.g. will behaviour be rewarding o attitudes about subjective norms i.e. reflects impact of social pressure/influence about the acceptability/appropriateness of certain behaviour and degree to which they want to conform to others expectiations thus, the model predicts that a person will maintain or change a behaviour if they believe: o the behaviour is socially desirable o there is social pressure to conform to the behaviour o the opinions of others matters to the, the model has been successful in predicting: intentions to donate blood, quit smoking, exercise however, e dont always act the way we intend to Shortcomings of model: o Intentions and behaviour are only moderately correlated i.e. we dont always do what we plan to do,, but the closer our intentions are measured to the time of a behaviour, the higher the correlation is between them o Certain behaviour is not only under our own control e.g. condom use

o Peoples attitudes can predict some but not all health related behaviour e.g. alcohol use but not ssmoking o This theory is incomplete it doesn't take into account the role of prior experience (which is a strong predictor of future behaviour), control beliefs or readiness to change o Model is no superseded by Integrated Behaviour Model Theory of Planned Behaviour TRA has evolved over time to become the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and then the Integrated Behavioural Model (IBM) RTRA was expanded to include components of other theories of behaviour to become the IBM The IBM can also include the following factors e.g. knowledge and skills to perform the behaviour, past behaviour, efficacy beliefs, salience of the behaviour etc. Stages of Change Model Moedl focuses on peoples readiness to change Five stages of intentional behavioural change: o Precontemplation person is not considering changing o Contemplation aware problem exists and seriously thinking of changing to behaviour in next coupld of months but not ready to make commitment to take action o Ppreparation ready to try to change and plan to pursue behavioural goal in next month o Action from start of persons successful and active efforts to change behaviour = month o Maintenance work to maintain successful behaviour change =value of model: it views readiness to change as a dynamic process, enabling interventions to be matched or tailored to particular stage of change e.g. people in pre-contemplation stage are likely to see more barriers than benefits. It predicts: quit smoking, breast cancer testing, safe sex practice

Overweight theory set-point theory The body has a weight that it strives to maintain

When departures from this set-point, the body corrects the change by increasing or decreasing the metabolism so that weight slowly creeps towards the set-point again Set-point controlled by the hypothalamus seen in animal research o Specific hypothalamic damage can reset the set-point o Lateral hypothalamic damage = lower set-point o Ventromedial hypothalamic damage = higher set point Hypothalamus may regulate body weight by o Monitoring fat cell numbers thyroid hormones? o Regulating insulin levels? Obese people have high insulin levels and resistance = increased hunger, high food consumption, high perceived pleasantness of sweet foods i.e. vicious cycle Once established, changing the set-point is very difficult.

Obesity restraint theory: Proposes that restrained eaters will develop abnormal eating patterns, cycling between inhibited consumption (i.e. dieting) and overindulgence Inhibited eatng behaviour/restraint is disinhibited by certain events e.g. perception of having violated diet, negative mood which can produce a bout of overeating i.e. dieting and restraint actually increases binging behaviour, especially at night, linked to brain serotonin levels which leads to overweight/obesity Events that disinhibit restrained eaters include: perceptions on has violated their diet, and now may as well eat what they want, negatice emotions etc. After eating a snack, unrestrained (i.e. normal) eaters decrease their later food intake, whereas restrained eaters will consume more than if theyd not eaten the snack

11/12/2013 4:35:00 PM

11/12/2013 4:35:00 PM