Health - Healthy Living - Theories of Health Belief

Aim: to use the HBM to explain mothers adherence to a drug regimen for asthmatic children

Method: correlation between beliefs reported during interviews and compliance with self-reported admin of asthma medication, some had blood tests for meds Design: correlational design

Sample: 111 mothers. Aged 17-54 children aged from 9months to 17years

Procedure: 45min interview. Q's: perception of child's susceptibility to illness and asthma, beliefs about seriousness, interference of asthma, faith in doctors 

Key Results: +correlation: mothers susceptibility/compliance to medical regimen. +correlation: perception of seriousness/giving medication prescribed. -correlating with compliance: disruption, inaccessibility, child complaining and meds schedule

Conclusions: The HBM is a useful model to predict and explain different levels of compliance with medical regimens

BEHAVIOURIST/COGNITIVE

Evaluation Points:

• determinism vs. free will
• reductionism vs. holism 
• nature vs. nurture

Method Issues:

• unclear interpretation of cause and effect
• cannot generalise

produced wide number of practical applications. allows understanding of nurture.

individual differences - demographic variables i.e. age, gender, social class. assumes humans are are passive to classical and operant conditioning

Method: Review article

Sample: 6 pieces of research into into individual perceptions of ability to control outcomes based on reinforcement

Key Results: results from studies reviewed consistently showed that pps who felt they had control over the situation were more likely to show behaviours that would enable them to cope with potential threats, than pps who thought that chance or other non-controllable forces determined the effects of their behaviours

Conclusions: locus of control would affect many of our behaviours. included in article a summary of research by James (1965), found that male smokers who gave up and did not relapse had a higher internal locus of control than those who did not quit smoking. No significant difference for female smokers, indicating factors such as weight gain were influential in giving up smoking

BEHAVIOURIST/COGNITIVE

Evaluation Points:

• determinism vs. free will
• reductionism vs. holism 
• nature vs. nurture

Method Issues:

• unclear interpretation of cause and effect
• cannot generalise

produced wide number of practical applications. allows understanding of nurture.

individual differences - demographic variables i.e. age, gender, social class. assumes humans are are passive to classical and operant conditioning

Aim: to assess the self-efficacy of patients undergoing systematic desensitisation in relation to their behaviour with previously phobic objects

Method: A controlled quasi-experiment with patients with snake phobias

Sample: 10 snake-phobic patients who replied to an advertisement in a newspaper. 9females, 1male aged 19-57

Procedure: pre-test assessment: assessed for avoidance behaviour towards boa constrictor, fear arousal assessed (oral rating 1-10), efficacy expectations. systematic desensitisation: standard programme followed, patients introduced to series of events involving snakes, taught relaxation at each stage. Post-test assessment: measured on behaviours and belief of self-efficacy in coping

Key Results: Higher levels of post-test self-efficacy were found to correlate with higher levels of interaction with snakes

Conclusions: desensitisation enhanced self-efficacy levels, led to belief that the participant was able to cope with the phobic stimulus of a snake

BEHAVIOURIST/COGNITIVE

Evaluation Points:

• determinism vs. free will
• reductionism vs. holism 
• nature vs. nurture

Method Issues:

• pps know being studied, affect results, socially desirable 
• cannot generalise

produced wide number of practical applications. allows understanding of nurture.

individual differences - demographic variables i.e. age, gender, social class. assumes humans are are passive to classical and operant conditioning