Theories of Health Psychology

predisposing factors

promote or prevent healthy behavior changes

• beliefs/attitudes: how people view behaviors

• knowledge: awareness can encourage change

• expectations: what people expect from behavior

• values: what people prioritize

enabling factors

things that make health behavior possible and easier to maintain

• ex: abilities, capabilities, resources

reinforcing factors

help continue healthy behaviors

adherence

following medical advice and taking meds as prescribed; ~1/2 people with chronic illnesses do not take medications as directed

factors affecting adherence

• patient related: forgetfulness, cannot understand, depression

• treatment related: complex dosing, taking multiple meds

• health related: high copay, restricted access

tackling nonadherence

1. explain

2. address

3. seek

4. provide

5. integrate

6. simplify

7. help

8. enhance

health belief model

framework for predicting health behavior based on a person’s beliefs about the perceived threat and severity of harm posed by an illness or health condition and the perceived benefits and costs of making behavioral changes

• seeks to explain factors involved in making a health behavior change

2 major components of HBM

perceived threat and perceived benefits/costs

perceived threat

based on likelihood of getting a disease (perceived susceptibility) and belief about seriousness of disease if contracted (perceived severity)

perceived benefits and costs

weighing pros and cons of any actions, what are perceived benefits of carrying out action and wwhat are barriers to making change

according to HBM a person will make a change if these conditions are met

1. perceived susceptibility

2. belief that illness can have serious consequences

3. belief that specific behavior can have beneficial consequences in reducing severity/risk of suffering

4. costs of engaging in behavior < potential benefits

5. cue for action

social cognitive theory (SCT)

incorporates roles for cognitive factors and learning through observing others in the social environment

• classical conditioning

• operant conditioning

albert bandura and SCT

behavior influenced by 3 things: thoughts, behavior, and environment

• self efficacy

• outcome expectancy: belief what will happen if you perform a behavior

• observational learning

• reciprocal determinism: all 3 influence each other

theory of reasoned action

how intentions influenced behavior; having an intention does not guarantee the person will act

what determines intention

attitudes and subjective norms (what a person believes important people think about the behavior)

theory of planned behavior

attitudes and subjective forms from TRA and perceived behavioral control

• has 2 parts

• 1. self efficacy

• 2. controllability

research supports TPB

in predicting health related behaviors

transtheoretical model

combines ideas from HBM, SCT, TPB

main premise of TTM

people are at different stages of readiness to change so behavioral interventions should match the stage

6 stages of TTM

1. precontemplation

2. contemplation

3. preparation

4. action

5. maintenance

6. termination

precontemplation

not planning to change in next 6 months, not thinking about it, unaware of risks; raise awareness

contemplation

planning to change in next 6 months, weighing pros and cons, unsure/stuck; build motivation

preparation

plan to take action in 1 month; some steps toward change have been taken; self efficacy becomes very important; make a specific plan and prepare to act

action

behavioral change has occurred within past 5 months; find strategies to maintain

maintenance

new desired behavior maintained for 6 months or more; prevent relapse

termination

change has become permanent part of life, high self efficacy, no temptation to engage in old undesired behavior