Health and Well-Being | Prevalence of health problems | ERQ

Prevalence

The proportion of a population who have a specific health problem during a given time period;

Meaning of prevalence in epidemiology

A measure used to describe how common an illness or disease is within a population;

Origin of the term prevalence

The term comes from epidemiology where it is used to measure the occurrence of illnesses and diseases;

How prevalence is usually reported

As a percentage of the population who have a specific health problem;

Example of a prevalence rate

If 5 percent of a population has a specific health problem the prevalence rate is 5 percent;

What prevalence measures

The proportion of people in a population who have a particular health problem rather than the number of new cases alone;

Three commonly used types of prevalence

Point prevalence period prevalence and lifetime prevalence;

Point prevalence

The percentage of a population that has a specific health problem at a particular point in time;

What point prevalence measures

How many people in a population have the health problem at one specific moment;

Time frame of point prevalence

A single specific point in time;

Example of point prevalence

The percentage of a population who have depression on a particular day;

Period prevalence

The proportion of a population that has a specific health problem at any point during a given period of time;

What period prevalence measures

How many people experienced the health problem at least once during a specified period;

Time frame of period prevalence

A defined period of time rather than one specific moment;

Twelve month prevalence

The percentage of a population who had a specific health problem at any point during the previous twelve months;

Most commonly used period prevalence

Twelve month prevalence;

What twelve month prevalence includes

People who had the health problem at any point during the last twelve months;

Example of period prevalence

The percentage of a population who experienced depression at any time during the previous twelve months;

Lifetime prevalence

The percentage of a population who have had a specific health problem at any point during their lifetime;

What lifetime prevalence measures

Whether a person has ever experienced the health problem at any time in their life;

Time frame of lifetime prevalence

The entire lifetime of an individual up to the time of measurement;

Example of lifetime prevalence

The percentage of people who have experienced depression at least once during their lifetime;

Difference between point and period prevalence

Point prevalence measures a health problem at one particular moment while period prevalence measures whether it occurred at any time during a defined period;

Difference between period and lifetime prevalence

Period prevalence covers a specified time frame while lifetime prevalence covers the individuals entire life;

Difference between point and lifetime prevalence

Point prevalence measures whether someone has the health problem at one particular moment while lifetime prevalence measures whether they have ever had it;

Why prevalence has three different measures

Different measures allow researchers to examine how common a health problem is at a particular moment across a defined period or across an entire lifetime;

Challenge of measuring prevalence

Prevalence applies to an entire population but researchers usually only have access to a limited sample of that population;

Why researchers use samples to estimate prevalence

Researchers generally cannot collect information from every member of an entire population so they use a sample to estimate the population prevalence;

Sample in prevalence research

A smaller group of individuals selected from the larger population being investigated;

Population in prevalence research

The entire group of people about whom researchers want to estimate the prevalence of a health problem;

How to estimate prevalence from a sample

Divide the number of people in the sample who have the health problem by the total number of people in the sample;

Numerator in the prevalence calculation

The number of people in the sample who have the specific health problem;

Denominator in the prevalence calculation

The total number of people included in the sample;

Prevalence calculation

Number of people in the sample with the health problem divided by the total number of people in the sample;

Converting a prevalence calculation into a percentage

Multiply the result of dividing the number of affected people by the total sample size by 100;

Example prevalence calculation

If 50 out of 1000 sampled people have a health problem the estimated prevalence is 5 percent;

Why sample representativeness matters

The sample must reflect the characteristics of the larger population so that the estimated prevalence can be generalized;

Representative sample

A sample that reflects the important characteristics of the population from which it was selected;

Generalizing prevalence findings

Using the prevalence estimate obtained from a sample to draw conclusions about the entire population;

Why representativeness is important for generalization

An unrepresentative sample may produce an estimate that does not accurately reflect the prevalence in the wider population;

Difficulty of obtaining a representative sample

The population being studied may include an entire country making it difficult to ensure that a limited sample reflects everyone;

Random sampling

A sampling strategy in which every member of the population has the same chance of being selected;

Why random sampling is used in prevalence research

It helps researchers obtain a sample that reflects the characteristics of the wider population;

How random sampling supports representativeness

Giving every population member an equal chance of selection reduces the risk of systematically excluding particular groups;

Random sampling and sample size

A sufficiently large randomly selected sample is more likely to reflect the characteristics of the entire population;

Why a large sample is useful in random sampling

A larger sample is more likely to include a broad range of characteristics found within the population;

Random sampling and generalization

A representative random sample allows researchers to make more reliable estimates about prevalence in the wider population;

Random sampling in practice

Researchers identify the population create a sampling frame and randomly select individuals from that frame;

Sampling frame

A list or record of population members from which a random sample can be selected;

Random sampling and equal chance

Every member of the population must have the same chance of being included in the sample;

Additional challenge of measuring prevalence in psychology

Whether someone is considered to have a psychological health problem depends on how researchers define and diagnose that problem;

Why prevalence can be difficult to compare across psychological studies

Different studies may use different diagnostic criteria or thresholds to decide whether someone has the health problem;

Diagnosis and prevalence rates

The method used to diagnose a health problem determines which individuals are counted as having that problem;

Outcome variable in prevalence research

Whether an individual has the specific health problem or does not have it;

Binary outcome variable

A variable with only two possible categories such as having a health problem or not having it;

Examples of binary outcomes in prevalence research

Whether a person has obesity or does not have obesity and whether a person has social media addiction or does not have social media addiction;

Diagnostic criteria

The specific standards or requirements used to determine whether an individual has a particular health problem;

Diagnostic threshold

The cut off point used to decide whether an individual meets the criteria for having a health problem;

How diagnostic criteria affect prevalence

Changing the criteria used to diagnose a health problem can change how many people are classified as having it;

How diagnostic thresholds affect prevalence

Setting a different threshold can result in different numbers of people being classified as having the health problem;

Different diagnostic approaches across studies

Studies may use different criteria and thresholds to determine whether participants have a particular health problem;

Non comparable prevalence studies

Studies that use different diagnostic approaches may produce prevalence rates that cannot be directly compared;

Why consistent diagnostic criteria are important

Using the same criteria and thresholds allows researchers to make more meaningful comparisons between prevalence rates;

Overall challenge of prevalence measurement in psychology

Researchers must obtain a representative sample and use consistent diagnostic criteria to estimate and compare prevalence accurately;

Social media addiction diagnostic status

Social media addiction is not currently recognized as a mental disorder;

Why social media addiction is called a health problem

It is not officially recognized as a mental disorder and therefore does not have established diagnostic criteria in the DSM or other diagnostic manuals;

Diagnostic criteria for social media addiction

There are currently no officially recognized diagnostic criteria for social media addiction in the DSM or other diagnostic manuals;

Measures of social media addiction

Several measurement scales have been developed to assess social media addiction even though it is not officially recognized as a mental disorder;

Most commonly used social media addiction scale

The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale developed by Andreassen and colleagues in 2012;

Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale BFAS

A measurement scale developed by Andreassen and colleagues in 2012 to assess symptoms associated with Facebook addiction;

Theoretical basis of BFAS

The scale is based on the diagnostic criteria for behavioural addiction which is a broader condition recognized by the DSM 5;

Behavioural addiction

A broader condition recognized by the DSM 5 that involves becoming excessively involved in a rewarding behaviour;

Six components measured by BFAS

Salience mood modification tolerance withdrawal conflict and relapse;

Purpose of the six BFAS components

To measure different features and symptoms associated with social media addiction;

Salience

Spending too much time thinking about or using social media;

Salience as a component of social media addiction

Social media becomes excessively important and takes up too much of an individuals time and attention;

Example of salience

A person spends excessive amounts of time using social media and it becomes a major focus of their daily life;

Mood modification

Using social media to cope with negative emotions or distract oneself from problems;

Mood modification as a component of social media addiction

A person uses social media to change their emotional state or escape from unpleasant feelings;

Example of mood modification

A person opens social media whenever they feel sad stressed or upset because it distracts them from their problems;

Tolerance

Feeling the need to spend increasingly more time using social media to maintain the same level of pleasure;

Tolerance as a component of social media addiction

A person needs to increase the amount of time spent on social media to experience the same level of satisfaction;

Example of tolerance

A person gradually spends longer periods using social media because the amount of time they previously spent no longer provides the same pleasure;

Withdrawal

Feeling uncomfortable or restless when unable to use social media for a period of time;

Withdrawal as a component of social media addiction

Negative feelings such as discomfort and restlessness occur when a person cannot access social media;

Example of withdrawal

A person feels restless and uncomfortable when they are unable to check their social media accounts;

Conflict

Disruptions in work daily life or interpersonal relationships caused by social media use;

Conflict as a component of social media addiction

Excessive social media use interferes with important responsibilities activities or relationships;

Example of conflict

A persons social media use disrupts their work responsibilities or causes problems in their relationships with other people;

Relapse

Being unable to give up or reduce social media use despite attempting to do so;

Relapse as a component of social media addiction

A person repeatedly returns to excessive social media use after trying to stop or limit the behaviour;

Example of relapse

A person repeatedly attempts to reduce their social media use but cannot maintain the reduction;

Six components and their meanings

Salience means excessive time and attention mood modification means coping with negative emotions tolerance means needing more time for the same pleasure withdrawal means discomfort when unable to use social media conflict means disruption to daily life and relapse means returning to excessive use despite trying to stop;

Andreassen et al 2012

Developed the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale to measure six components associated with social media addiction;

Number of items in the original BFAS

The original Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale contains 18 items;

Organization of the original BFAS

The scale contains three questions for each of the six components of social media addiction;

Number of questions per BFAS component

Each of the six components is assessed using three questions;

Total number of BFAS components

Six components are measured through 18 questions in total;

Shortened version of BFAS

A six item version of the scale was also developed;

Organization of the shortened BFAS

The shortened version contains one question for each of the six components;