PSY 325 1st Edition Lecture 2 Outline of Current Lecture I. Seeking and Receiving Health Carea. Healthb. DiseaseII. Illness Behaviora. Six Conditions that Shape People’s Response to SymptomsIII. The Sick Role a. Three Privilegesb. Three ResponsibilitiesIV. Seeking Medical Information from Nonmedical SourcesV. Receiving Medical CareVI. Being in the Hospitala. Hospital Patient Roleb. Children and HospitalizationCurrent LectureI. Seeking and Receiving Health CareLance Armstrong is presented as an example of someone who was healthy and training hard for tour DuPont. He kept attributing his symptoms to getting older, having tougher workouts, and the like. When it finally became painful enough for him to look into, he discovered that he had stage-3 testicular cancer. He was given a 40 percent chance of survival. His cancer went into remission after 2 years of chemotherapy. Why do people seem to behave unwisely on issues of personal health? Why do others seek medical attention when they are not ill?Seeking medical advice*Health—defined by the WHO (World Health Organization) as positive physical, mental, and social well being and not merely as the absence of disease or infirmity. *Disease—refers to the process of physical damage within the body that can exist even in the absence of a label or diagnosis. These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.People can have diseases and not be considered ill. HIV and cancer patients all have a disease but can appear healthy and unaware of their disease. Dealing with symptoms occurs in two stages:1. *Illness behavior—consists of the activities undertaken by people who experience symptoms but who have not yet received a diagnosis. Occurs BEFORE diagnosis.2. *Sick Role Behavior—term applied to the behavior of people after a diagnosis whether from a health care provider or through self-diagnosis. People do this in order to get well (undergoing chemo or allowing yourself recovery time)A diagnosis is what sets these behaviors apart. II. Illness BehaviorThe goal of Illness behavior is to determine health status in the presence of symptoms. At this point in time, symptoms are a critical element in seeking attention but are not enough to prompt a visit to the doctor. At least six conditions shape people’s response to symptoms:1) Personal factors 2) gender 3) age 4) socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural factors 5) characteristics of the symptoms and 6) conceptualization of disease- Personal factors- people’s way of viewing their own bodies, levels of stress, and their personality traits. People who experience more stress are more likely to seek medicalattention. Neuroticism= those with strong negative emotional reactions—generally had high self-reports of illness whether or not objective evidence confirmed their reports. - Gender-women are more likely than men to use health care. Female gender role allows women to seek assistance whereas those in the male gender are more expected to act strong and deny pain and discomfort. - Age- young people seek it less because they feel indestructible. Older people simply attribute their symptoms to age too often. - Socioeconomic-higher up=less symptoms. But when they are sick they are more likely to seek medical attention. Poor people are more likely to become seriously ill. They also usually have more severe illnesses. Ethnicity—European Americans are more likely than other groups to report a visit to a physician. Ethnic differences in insurance coverage account for ethnic differences in the use of dental health care.- Symptom Characteristics: Four characteristics that determine people’s response to disease. A) Visibility of symptoms: how readily apparent the symptom is to the person and others. B) Perceived severity of the symptom—when they seem more severe, action is prompted. If you see the symptoms as serious or not. C) Extent to which the symptom interferes with a person’s life-the more incapacitated the personis, the more likely they are to seek medical care. D) Frequency and persistence of thesymptoms—intermittent symptoms are less likely to generate illness behavior.Sometimes even mild symptoms are not enough and people only seek medical help when symptoms are severe.- Conceptualization of Disease: most people are largely ignorant of how disease develops and how their body works. Thus, people may seek or not seek medical care based on their incomplete and sometimes inaccurate beliefs about health and illness. Five components in the conceptualization process are:o 1. Identity of the disease Very important to illness behavior (pre-diagnosis). If a person is told they have heartburn compared to heart attack… different actions taken. Labels have been shown to make people report symptoms associated with the confirmation of their diagnosisThe tendency to interpret symptoms as indicating minor rather than major problems is the source of many optimistic self-diagnoseso 2. Time line (time course of both disease and treatment) People who conceptualize their illness as an acute disorder tend to manage their symptoms better. o 3. Cause of the disease Determining the cause usually occurs after a diagnosis has been made. People are less likely to seek treatment when conditions seem to haveemotional or spiritual causes. o 4. Consequences of the disease—for example may people see the diagnosis with cancer as a death sentence? They fear the possible consequences. o 5. Controllability of the disease—refers to people’s belief that they can control the course of their illness by controlling the treatment of the disease. People who are able to control the symptoms of their disease without medical consultation will be less likely to consult professional medical care.III. The Sick RoleThe activities engaged in by people who believe themselves ill, for the purpose of getting well. This occurs after a person gets a diagnosis. Includes three rights or privileges and three rights or privileges: The privileges are: 1. The right to make decisions concerning health-related issues 2. The right to be exempt from normal duties 3. The right to become dependent on others for assistanceThe three responsibilities are1. Duty to maintain health along with the responsibility to get well2. The duty to perform routine health care management 3. The duty to use a range of health