Lecture 11 - Introduction to Health Behaviours

Introduction to Health Behaviours

Health behaviours

Health behaviours, sometimes called health- related behaviours, are actions taken by individuals that affect their health or mortality

Examples of Health Behaviours

Negative health behaviours:

• Tobacco use/smoking

• Alcohol misuse

• Low physical activity

Positive health behaviours:

• Maintaining a health diet

• Getting vaccinated

• Handwashing

Risk Factor

A risk factor is any attribute, characteristic or exposure of an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or injury

Models of Health Behaviours

1. Stage Models e.g. stages of change, health action

2. Social Cognition Models e.g. Health Belief Model, Protection Motivation Theory

3. Intergrated Models e.g. COM-B

Stage Models

• Implies that individuals are at different stages of behaviour change

• People within the same stage face similar challenges

• People move through these stages as they chnage their behaviour

• Movement through the stages may not occur unidirectionally

Example of SOC model

Challenges with Stage Models

• Disagreement on whether change happens in stages or along a continuum

• The concept of a ‘stage’ isn’t simple - includes many variables, such as current behaviours, previous behaviour attempts, etc

• Assumes that people make concious, coherent plans to change

Social Cognition Models

• Examine predictors and precursors to health behaviours

• Assume that our behaviour result from us weighing up the costs and benefits of any action

• They are a concept which describes an individual’s perceptions of their social world

Example of social cognition model

Challenges with Social Cognition Models

• There’s a lot of variation between social cognition models

• Rely on the assuption that are the variables in the models are casual 

• Some research has shown that the ability of social cognition models to accurately predict health behaviours is limited

Intergrated Models of Health Behaviour

• Involve the combination of different types of behaviour models

• Often created with the aim of reduce variability in researchinto health beliefs, by creating a comparable, standardised approach

Example of COM-B

Challenges with Intergrated Models

• Standardised approaches to exploring health behaviours can limit research and reduce creativity

• Rigorously following one model reduces the ability to respond to the needs of patient in front of you

• Can one model really capture all the variables which explain health behaviours?

Why is this important for pharmacists?

• Promoting a health lifestyle can improve the success of medical treatments/intervention

• We can apply the above models to help support patients to change their behaviour, using them in consultations, and when developing plans and strategies with patients

The pharmacists role in behaviour change

• Supporting smoking cessation

• Providing lifestyle advice/interventions

• Directing people to support services

• Promoting public health campaigns

• Providing behaviour change interventions

• Supporting medication adherence

Medication Adherence

• Complaince: The extent to which the patient’s behaviour matches the prescriber’s recommendations.’ However, its use is declining as it implies lack of patient involvement

• Adherence: The extent to which the patient’s behaviour matches agreed recommendations from the prescriber

• Concordance: Describes a consultation process in which healthcare professional and patient agree therapeutic decisions that incorporate their respective views. Concordance describes the interaction between the healthcare professional and the patient