Health psychology by Dr farooq alam

1. Health psychology
by
Farooq alam psychologist
‫نفسیات‬ ‫ماہر‬

2. Course objectives
1.Identify determinants of peoples health related behaviour
2.Develop understanding about the role of locus of control
and attribution styles in serving as a protective measures for
psychological health.

3. Definition of health behavior
• Health behaviors have been defined in various
ways. For example, Conner and Norman (1996)
define them as any activity undertaken for the
purpose of preventing or detecting disease or for
improving health and well being.
• Gochman ( 1997 ) in the Handbook of Health
Behavior Research defines them as `behavior
patterns, actions and habits that relate to health
maintenance, to health restoration and to health
improvement.

4. Health related behaviour.
Smoking is the health behavior most
closely linked with long-term negative
health outcomes .smoking will be lead
to the coronary heart disease (CHD)
these disease are increased among
smokers .
1.Smoking

5.  Smoking has also been linked to a number of
cancers, including cancer of the lung, throat,
stomach and bowel as well as a number of more
immediate negative health effects such as
reduced lung capacity and bronchitis.

6. 2.Maintain regular exercise
 The potential health benefits of engaging in
regular exercise include reduced
cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
 lowered blood pressure, and the increased
metabolism of carbohydrates and fats, as well
as a range.
 psychological benefits such as improved self
esteem, positive mood states, reduced life
stress and anxiety.

7. Diet
. In the Third World, the problems related to diet
and health are ones of under-nutrition; in the
First World, the problems are predominantly
linked to overconsumption of food.
In Western industrialized countries excessive fat
consumption and insufficient fiber, fruit and
vegetable consumption are related to health
problems.

8. diet
• In addition, excess consumption of calories
combined with insufficient exercise has made
obesity a major health problem.
• Diet has been implicated in cardiovascular
diseases (CVDs), strokes and high blood
pressure, cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis ,
and dental disease.

9. Sexual behaviors
• Sexual behaviors are considered health
behaviors because of their impact upon the
spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)
such as gonorrhea and syphilis (see Sexually
Transmitted Diseases: Psychosocial Aspects)

10.  the role of sexual behaviors in the spread of human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been a focus of
attention.
 While early health education campaigns emphasized the
need to reduce the number of sexual partners or avoid
particular sexual practices (e.g., anal sex, penetrative
sex).
 more recently the focus has been upon the use of
condoms during sex to reduce the risk of HIV
transmission.

11. Health Screening
• Individuals may seek to protect their health by
participating in various screening programs
which attempt to detect disease at an early, or
asymptomatic, stage.
• In the UK, screening programs have been set
up for various diseases, including anemia,
diabetes, bronchitis, cervical cancer, and
breast cancer. 50 and o

12. Considering breast cancer, it has been estimated that breast
screening programs which include mammograms can reduce breast
cancer mortality by up to 40 percent among women aged
50 and over (Strax 1984). However, participation rates in breast
screening programs show great variability across different
countries.

13. Use of alcohal
• High alcohol consumption has been linked to a
range of negative health outcomes including
high blood pressure, heart disease and
cirrhosis of the liver.
• High levels of alcohol consumption have also
been associated with accidents, injuries,
suicides, crime, domestic violence, rape,
murder and unsafe sex (British Medical
Journal 1982).

14. Understanding Your Locus of Control
the concept of ‘Locus of Control’ is an individuals belief
system with regards to the causes of their experiences
and the factors to which that person attributes success
or failure.
• The concept of locus of control is divided into two
categories:
• internal. If a person has an internal locus of control,
they attribute their success or failures to their own
efforts and abilities.
• Another is external locus of control, attributes their
success or failures to external factors, things outside of
their control, such as luck or fate.

17. The Fundamental Attribution Error
• When it comes to other people, we tend to
attribute causes to internal factors such as
personality characteristics and ignore or
minimize external variables. This phenomenon
tends to be very widespread, particularly
among individualistic cultures.

18. Self-Serving Bias
• Think about the last time you received a good
grade on an exam. Chances are that you
attributed your success to internal factors,
such as "I did well because I am smart" or "I
did well because I studied and was well-
prepared."
• What happens when you receive a poor grade,
though?

19. Social psychologists have found that in this situation, you are
more likely to attribute your failure to external forces, such as "I
failed because the teacher included trick questions" or "The
classroom was so hot that I couldn't concentrate.
" Notice that both of these explanations lay the blame on outside
forces rather than accepting personal responsibility.