Health & Medical Psychology
Lecture 1: Explaining health behaviour
Prevention
Primary prevention: prevention of the problem, illness or casualty. Target group = healthy
people.
Secondary prevention: tracing illness in an early phase, for early treatment, or for
prevention of more serious complaints. Target group: (healthy) people with an increased
risk.
Tertiary prevention: prevention of complications and worsening of symptoms through
optimal care (including self-regulation interventions). Target group: ill people.
Health
Not ill
Reserve/resource
Behavior
Physical fitness and vitality
Psychological well-being
Function
WHO definition
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity.
Biomedical Model
Exposure to contagious “agents”
Insufficient immune response
Why else do we become ill?
, Health behavior
Stress/emotions
Social relations
Biopsychosocial Model
Body and mind in interaction determine health and illness
Consequences of interplay of biological (genes, pathogens), psychological (emotions,
cognition and behavior) and social (norms, social cultural background) factors
The different systems influence each other continuously
Alameda 7
1. Sleep 7 to 8 hours
2. No eating between meals
3. Eat breakfast regularly
4. Maintain proper weight
5. Regular exercise
6. Moderate or no use of alcohol
7. No smoking
Matarazzo (1984)
Makes a distinction between:
Behavioral pathogens (health compromising behaviors)
Behavioral immunogens (health enhancing behaviors)
Why influencing health behavior?
Health behavior is related to mortality and morbidity
Socio-demographical differences in health behavior increase social economic
differences
Prevalence of risk behaviors is high
Differences in prevalence in health behavior between SES groups enhance social
inequality
Health behavior is frequently not based on an informed choice
,Health Belief Model
Help, I can get this condition…
o Perceived vulnerability
… and if so, that would be terrible!
o Perceived severity
Thus: fear is key feature!
Fear determines together with response efficacy the likelihood of occurrence of behavior.
Theory of Reasoned Action
Not only individual -> norms are added, so it’s also environmental!
Social norms
Descriptive
o What others do
Injunctive
o What others think you should do
Group norms/social pressure
Social support (positive and negative)
Social learning/cognitive theory (Bandura)
, Outcome &…
… Self-efficacy expectancies
Determine behavior
Theory of Planned Behavior
Summary social cognition models
People will change if they believe that:
They are susceptible to some disease
Lecture 1: Explaining health behaviour
Prevention
Primary prevention: prevention of the problem, illness or casualty. Target group = healthy
people.
Secondary prevention: tracing illness in an early phase, for early treatment, or for
prevention of more serious complaints. Target group: (healthy) people with an increased
risk.
Tertiary prevention: prevention of complications and worsening of symptoms through
optimal care (including self-regulation interventions). Target group: ill people.
Health
Not ill
Reserve/resource
Behavior
Physical fitness and vitality
Psychological well-being
Function
WHO definition
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity.
Biomedical Model
Exposure to contagious “agents”
Insufficient immune response
Why else do we become ill?
, Health behavior
Stress/emotions
Social relations
Biopsychosocial Model
Body and mind in interaction determine health and illness
Consequences of interplay of biological (genes, pathogens), psychological (emotions,
cognition and behavior) and social (norms, social cultural background) factors
The different systems influence each other continuously
Alameda 7
1. Sleep 7 to 8 hours
2. No eating between meals
3. Eat breakfast regularly
4. Maintain proper weight
5. Regular exercise
6. Moderate or no use of alcohol
7. No smoking
Matarazzo (1984)
Makes a distinction between:
Behavioral pathogens (health compromising behaviors)
Behavioral immunogens (health enhancing behaviors)
Why influencing health behavior?
Health behavior is related to mortality and morbidity
Socio-demographical differences in health behavior increase social economic
differences
Prevalence of risk behaviors is high
Differences in prevalence in health behavior between SES groups enhance social
inequality
Health behavior is frequently not based on an informed choice
,Health Belief Model
Help, I can get this condition…
o Perceived vulnerability
… and if so, that would be terrible!
o Perceived severity
Thus: fear is key feature!
Fear determines together with response efficacy the likelihood of occurrence of behavior.
Theory of Reasoned Action
Not only individual -> norms are added, so it’s also environmental!
Social norms
Descriptive
o What others do
Injunctive
o What others think you should do
Group norms/social pressure
Social support (positive and negative)
Social learning/cognitive theory (Bandura)
, Outcome &…
… Self-efficacy expectancies
Determine behavior
Theory of Planned Behavior
Summary social cognition models
People will change if they believe that:
They are susceptible to some disease
