Health Psychology

What is stress?

Disruption of our homeostatic balance

How do the components in the health beliefs model work together/relate?

1. Perceived susceptibility + perceived severity: Combine to shape how serious a health threat is

2. Perceived pros + perceived cons: The benefits are weighed against barriers to determine whether taking action is worth it

3. Cues to action: Reminders of events that can motivate to begin behavior

4. Action likelihood: A person is more likely to change their behaviors when they feel threatened, believe the benefits outweigh the barriers, and have reason to act

Two main types of stress?

Eustress (positive stressor) and Distress (negative stressor)

What is the cognitive appraisal model?

Explains how your thoughts and interpretations of a situation influence the emotions you experience and how you respond to it

What cognitive processes take place during primary appraisal?

Assessing if an event is positive (benign-beneficial), neutral (irrelevant) or negative (harmful); and if negative how bad?

What cognitive processes take place during secondary appraisal?

Do I have resources or skills to handle event > if not, then DISTRESS

What are some stressors for college students?

Roommate conflict, homesickness, friend conflict, academic struggles, dieting, time management, lack of privacy, etc

What is the General Adaptation Syndrome?

An adaptive response where are bodies move from homeostasis to crisis

What’s the order of general adaption syndrome stages

Alarm, Resistance and Exhaustion

What happens in Stage 1 - Alarm Reaction?

The “fight or flight” response (causes you to be ready for physical activity) BUT decreases the effectiveness of the immune system making you more prone to illness

What happen is Stage 2 - Resistance (adaptation)?

If stress continues the body adapts to the stressors it is being exposed to

What’s an example for Stage 2 (resistance)?

Stressor is starvation = person experiences reduced desire for physical activity to conserve energy, and the absorption of nutrients from any food intake is maximized

What happens Stage 3 - Stage of Exhaustion?

Stress persists for a long time and the body’s resistance may be reduced or collapse quickly. Person might have a heart attack, serve infection or chronic pain/illness

What are some factors impacting one’s stress appraisal?

Personal factors, social factors, environmental factors, and situational factors

How does stress relate to cortisol release?

Cortisol is the body’s stress hormone and is released in response to stress as part of the body’s stress adaptive stress response

How does stress impact the immune system?

A compromised immune system is less able to resist infection, cancer development and more

What are some physiological changes that occur as the result of being exposed to a stressor?

Increased heart rate/blood pressure, rapid breathing, pupil dilation, redirected blood flow, release of glucose and release of adrenaline and nonadrenaline

What are chronic stressors?

Ongoing environmental demand (martial conflict, work stress, personality)

What are acute stressors?

Sudden, typically short-lived, threatening event (robbery or giving a speech)

What are short-term stress symptoms?

Dry mouth, cool skin, increased sweating, rapid breathing, faster heart rate, tense muscles, butterflies in stomach, feelings of nausea, desire to urinate or diarrhea

What are long-term stress symptoms?

Insomnia, change in appetite, sexual disorders, aches/pains, frequent colds, feelings of intense/long-term tiredness and prone to illness

What’s problem focused coping strategies?

Approach style where your faced with stressful situation and work hard to resolve it

What are examples of problem focused coping strategies?

Planful Problem Solving: analyze the situation to arrive at solutions and then take direct action to correct problem

Confrontive Coping: taking assertive action, often involving anger or risk taking to change the situation

Wha’ts emotional focused coping strategies?

Avoidant style where you use either mental or behavioral methods to deal with feelings from stress

What are some examples of emotion-focused coping strategies?

Seeking social support

Psychologically Distancing/Reframing: Effort to detach or create a positive outlook from situation

Escape-avoidance: taking action to escape/avoid

Self-Control: Attempting to modulate one’s feelings in response to the stressor

How do men approach coping with stress?

Employ problem-focused coping strategies more than emotional focused strategies

How do women approach coping with stress?

employ emotional focused strategies more than problem-focused strategies

What is the health belief model?

Beliefs about effectiveness, ease, and the consequences of doing (or not doing) a certain behavior determines what we do

What are the components in the health belief model?

Perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived threat, perceived pros of action, perceived cons of action and action likelihood

What does the health belief model predict?

Preventative dental care, breast self-examination, weight management, AIDS risk-related behaviors and participation in health risk screening programs

What is each of the components of the health beliefs model in detail?

1. Perceived Susceptibility: How likely a person believes they are to develop a health condition

2. Perceived Severity: How serious a person believes the condition and consequences would be

3. Perceived Threat: Overall sense of danger a person feels from the health problem

4. Perceived Pros of Action: The benefits a person believes they will gain by changing their behavior

5. Perceived Cons of Action: The obstacles, costs, of challenges a person associates with changing their behavior

6. Action likelihood: How likely is it that the person will actually take steps to change their behavior

What are the components of the transtheoretical model of behavior change?

Process through stages in regard to any specific behavior (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance

What is the focus of health psychology?

Wellness and prevention of illness

What are the primary segments of health psychology?

Stress and coping, health behaviors and issues in health care

What are the two distinctions within the world health organization’s definition of health?

1. 1. Positive Definition of Health: Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not just being free from illness or disease

2. 2. Holistic view of health: Health includes three dimensions - physical, mental and social well-being (rather than focusing on the physical body

What’s eustress mean? (provide example)

Positive stress that presents the opportunity for personal growth and satisfaction (retiring, having a child, buying a new home or going on vacay)

What’s distress mean? (provide example)

Negative stress that results in debilitative stress and strain (being fired at work, financial challenges, death of someone close or being abused)

How are chronic diseases linked to health psychology?

Psychological/social factors contribute to development of chronic diseases (psychologists develop way to change health compromising factors)

Living with a chronic illness means years of treatment regimens that may affect family functioning (psychologists help ease problems in relationships)

What are the primary factors that contribute to one’s health status?

Biological, psychological, social, lifestyle and environmental factors. These include genetics, stress, relationships, diet, exercise and living conditions

Describe the changing role of health psychology (from acute to chronic disorder focus)

Health psychology shifted from focusing on treating/curing acute (short-term) illnesses to preventing and managing chronic (long-term) illnesses by understanding how behavior, lifestyle and psychological factors affect health

What are a few specific research areas within health psychology?

Mental and Physical Health

Health Promoting Behavior

Assessing limits of purely providing education (need more focused interventions)

Public Health (drinking water, trash removal (relation to health/disease)

Improving Healthcare (nutrition)

Improving Medical Care (adaption to chronic illness, doctor-patient communication and patient adherence)

What are the roles for health psychologist who focus on health promotion?

They promote healthy behaviors, prevent disease, educate people about health risks and help people change unhealthy habits

What are the roles for health psychologists who focus on clinical health?

Help people cope with illness, manage chronic conditions, reduce stress, change unhealthy behaviors and improve their mental and physical well-being while also helping patients manage pain and follow treatment plans