...Richard L. Graham PSY 352 – Health Psychology June 20, 2015 Instructor Bill Plath Biopsychosocial vs. Biomedical Model Essay The most effective way to understand biopsychosocial model of health and biomedical model of health is to compare and contrast the two model. With biomedical model there are some benefits that are remarkably positive for the studying of diseases. Biomedical is a model in which it has the ability to be reductionistic, meaning that it plays a role reducing illness to a lower level. Whereas the biopsychosocial model maintains the factor of biological, psychological coupling social factors in of health and illness it also focuses while emphasizing extensively on health and illness as a deviation. Even though medical practitioners focus more on diagnosis and treatment, this essay will provide a compared and contrasted evidence between biopsychosocial model of health and biomedical model of health, making it easier to understand the advantages of the biopsychosocial model while revealing of the model which is most ready to used in researches and studies. The concept of mind and body in compilation makes up health and illness, so here a model has to be determined for the study of these issues, biopsychosocial model would be the model implemented for the logic of health and illness. In accordance to: Suls, J (2004) "Biopsychosocial is the foundational assumption, health and illness are consequences of the inter-play of biological, psychological, and social...
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...Compare and contrast the four main models of health in the Sociology of Health literature, and explain how each of them has influenced our understanding of the concept of health and well-being. Health is a term that is commonly debated and the definition varies from one profession to another and is a controversial term. The World Health Organisation describes health as: “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1948) This definition was formulated in 1948 and at the time was a breakthrough in the health care sector and was finally seen as a positive definition of health, rather than negative. Most definition concentrated on disease and illness. There are some criticisms that state that the model describes health as a ‘state’ rather than a process and does not put any certain boundaries on what is considered “health”. In healthcare, models are used to diagnose and explain an individual’s health. There are four main models that dominate the health care profession which are the biomedical model, social model, biopsychosocial model and the holistic model. In this essay I will discuss all four models by looking at their advantages and limitations in health care. The biomedical model is a dominant model of disease in contemporary medicine and was devised by medical scientists for the study of disease. It was created as a scientific model therefor involved a set of scientific assumptions and rules. Biomedicine...
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... Psychology assignment (karon Chewter 7nd March 2016) Psychology applied to health Health psychology is the study of health, illnessillness, and health care practice. Health psychology as a unique area of psychology came to the forefront in the 1970s and has since grown. (Gross.R 2005) Health psychology is an exciting and relatively new field devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill and how they respond when they do get ill? It focuses on health promotion and maintenance, prevention and treatment of illness and the understanding of the biopsychosocial aspects of physical and mental illness, improvement of the health care system and the formulation of health policy (S.E, Taylor, 1995). The main areas of health psychology are stress and coping, health behaviours and issues in health. Health psychologists study such issues and develop interventions to help people stay well or get over illness. For exampleexample, a health psychology researcher might be interested in why adolescents continue to binge drink even though they know that binge drinking increases their risk of cancer and heart disease. Understanding this poor health habit leads to interventions to help adolescents stop binge drinking. The waysways, in which health psychologists try to change the behaviours, the influence of behaviourist such as Skinner and Watson will become apparent. Applying...
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...HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY Health psychology is defined as the application of psychology to the relevant areas of health, disease and the health care system. Medicine and health psychology have many common themes and interests but they differ in their approaches. The primary focus of medicine is the diagnosis, treatment and cure of illness. The focus of health psychology goes beyond that of medicine to stress the prevention and enhancement of health. It expands the biological framework of medicine to also include psychological and social factors. The scope of health psychology is very broad because many theories and methods of psychology can be applied to health-related issues. Maes & van Elderen (1998) (cited in Gross, 2009) defines health psychology as “…a sub-discipline of psychology which addresses the relationship between psychological processes and behaviour on the one hand and health and illness on the other...”. Health psychology aims to understand, explain, develop and test theories by evaluating the role of psychology and its perspectives as factors affecting illness, predicting unhealthy behaviours and understanding and evaluating the role of psychology in the experience and treatment of illness. It also aims to put theory into practice by promoting healthy behaviour, preventing illness and thereby improving the health care system and health policy. For example, from programmes developed to help people reduce risk factors to their health, such as obesity and...
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...is also relevant. For example, if a person is entering college and is seeking employment in an area in which other people of the same age are not seeking higher education, there will be some conflicting priorities, needs and abilities that the person will encounter and have to cope with. Another term used to describe the person-in-environment theory is “ecological system” (Zunker, 2012, pg. 57). While this term is more commonly used when talking about flora and fauna in the wild, it is very applicable to career counseling as well. The career world is often congruent to that of the animal kingdom. There are hierarchies, competition for resources, and inevitably someone thrives and someone fails. By focusing on this corresponding model as an analogy to how one’s career may evolve over time and through various obstacles, a career counselor can help a person to focus on external issues and how to best handle them. This is contrary to the typical style of counseling which often involves looking introspectively at one’s own pathology, identifying and analyzing maladaptive thought patterns, and then challenging those thought patterns to create a more lucrative outcome for the person. While there are elements of this in career counseling, the person-in-environment theory takes the perspective of helping the person...
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...The W.H.O. (World Health Organisation) defines health as, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease infirmity” (1948). This definition stands to this present day, and is the most commonly referred to by health professionals and text books. Before the 1700’s popular belief of illness and disease would have been the presence of evil spirit or curse interned inside the patient. Trepanning was a method where a hole was drilled into the skull of the patient to let the evil spirits leave the body…………….wies and semmille????? The biomedical model of health views the body as a machine; if it becomes dysfunctional it can be fixed. The biomedical model which was developed predominantly in Western Europe, between the late 1700’s to the late 1800’s, is based on research and discoveries, using scientific methods. Thus leading to the belief that illness was caused by bacteria, viruses’, genetic predisposition, trauma or degenerative conditions. These could be treated with medication, surgery based firmly on the scientific understanding of the physiology and bio-chemistry of the human body. This model lead to vast advances in medicine, for example, cures for many of the pre-war diseases such as Typhoid, Tuberculosis and Cholera were developed. However, this definition of health has been criticised for its one dimensional approach as it focuses purely on the physical aspects of the patient and fails to take account of the...
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...a holistic approach to understanding mental health conditions, it will outline four mental health disorders and evaluate the usefulness of a holistic approach to understanding the conditions, the paper will conclude with a summary of the main points made. The holistic approach in understanding mental health conditions looks at the whole person and explores biological, psychological and social aspects of an individual. The holistic approach dictates that these interdependent factors be examined to provide explanation and inform possible interventions, a biopsychosocial perspective is a type of holism (Toates, 2010, pg.19). Engel, 1977, rejected the narrow principles of the biomedical model in favour of a biopsychosocial model to increase understanding of mental health conditions (Engel, 1977, cited in Toates, 2010, pg.14)....
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...Evaluate biomedical model of health Current medical models assume that all illness is secondary to disease. Revision is needed to explain illnesses without disease and improve organisation of health care. Cultural and professional models of illness influence decisions on individual patients and delivery of health care. The biomedical model of illness, which has dominated health care for the past century, cannot fully explain many forms of illness. This failure stems partly from three assumptions: all illness has a single underlying cause, disease (pathology) is always the single cause, and removal or attenuation of the disease will result in a return to health. Currently, most models of illness assume a causal relation between disease and illness—the perceived condition of poor health felt by an individual. Cultural health beliefs and models of illness help determine the perceived importance of symptoms and the subsequent use of medical resources.4 The assumption that a specific disease underlies all illness has led to medicalisation of commonly experienced anomalous sensations and often disbelief of patients who present with illness without any demonstrable disease process. Finally, most biomedical models also seem strongly linked to primitive forms of intuitive mind-body dualism. Health commissioners, budgetary systems, healthcare professionals, and the public all act as if there is some clear, inescapable separation between physical and mental health problems, ignoring evidence...
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...groups and since the middle of the 19th century the analysis of mortality rates has helped health professionals get a better insight of the causes of the illness.(Burney,2015). According to (R Beaglehole, D Yach 2003) the burden of illness will be dominated by non-communicable diseases by 2016 and the future burden of diseases such as smoking which can only be determined by the amount of exposure to risk factors. Innovation has also caused an increase in modern information and communication,there are positives but there are also negatives since there is global marketing...
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...The biopsychosocial perspective is a comprehensive approach to health and illness that is crucial to improving the quality of life. The purpose of this essay is to describe a practice experience from a biopsychosocial perspective of a patient admitted to a unit for respite care. The patient has a diagnosis of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and the area being considered is the patient’s immobility. To begin, biopsychosocial will be defined and a brief description of the patient will be given before discussing how this central nervous system condition has affected the patient. The patient’s primary symptoms affecting their mobility will be described, along with a secondary symptom which the patient is vulnerable to developing. Subsequently, the associated tertiary symptoms affecting the patient psychological state and social systems will be discussed before summarising the knowledge gained and how this will alter skills in future practice experiences. To respect and maintain patient confidentiality in line with the Nursing and Midwifery Councils 2008 code, a pseudonym will be used and will be referred to as Mary throughout this essay. Mary is a forty-nine year old female who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis twenty-one years ago. In 2006 her mobility deteriorated after a significant relapse and as a result of her symptoms she has been confined to bed since 2010. Additionally Mary has mild speech difficulties, is doubly incontinent and has a history of depression...
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...The elements of the communication process are; sender/ receiver, encoding, decoding, message, channel, and feedback. However, we all know that individuals communicate differently and convey their messages differently according to their audience or environment. For example, if an instructor is communicating through small talk his or her tone and vocabulary would differ from communicating through informational talk. The same goes for when an individual communicates with someone they are close to, such as their friends or co-worker. Even though the tone and style of communication may be altered to fit the audience, the process of communication has to stay the same to be effective. Learning how to become an effective communicator will make health care professionals be able to gain trust in a reluctant consumer and be able to handle cultural differences among patients as well. Overall, this will make their employment more possible and help them build stronger relationships with their patients and co-workers. The ability to communicate enhances our development, strengthens our self-concept, and increase our ability to influence...
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... Student’s Name University Affiliation Health would be described in various ways in the current world. Different sections of the society may define health in different aspects; some are of the thought that healthy living is basically the absence of illness or ailment. This group of people therefore has come up with a set way of practice which is referred to as Biomedical model of health. This Model focuses solely on the disease/illness and the individual body functions and the biological processes involved. On the other hand, there is a different section of society that believes that healthy living comprises not only the body but the mind and the environment an individual is exposed to. This is defined as the Biopsychosocial Model of Health. Biomedical Model of Health works with the several assumptions put forward, among this is the argument that the body and the mind are separate entity when it comes to health matters. The hypothesis here is that illness basically is a deviation of the normal biological functions of the body and all other factors play very little role in an individual’s overall health. In this regard, this model assumes health and illness to be looked at separately. In essence this model exudes the notion that both psychological and social factors do not play any role in the effect of one’s health (Santrock, 2007) This type of model has its applications with considerable merits and demerits as well. It is mainly...
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...The biopsychosocial perspective is a comprehensive approach to health and illness that is crucial to improving the quality of life. The purpose of this essay is to describe a practice experience from a biopsychosocial perspective of a patient admitted to a unit for respite care. The patient has a diagnosis of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and the area being considered is the patient’s immobility. To begin, biopsychosocial will be defined and a brief description of the patient will be given before discussing how this central nervous system condition has affected the patient. The patient’s primary symptoms affecting their mobility will be described, along with a secondary symptom which the patient is vulnerable to developing. Subsequently, the associated tertiary symptoms affecting the patient psychological state and social systems will be discussed before summarising the knowledge gained and how this will alter skills in future practice experiences. To respect and maintain patient confidentiality in line with the Nursing and Midwifery Councils (2008) code, a pseudonym will be used and will be referred to as Mary throughout this essay. Mary is a forty-nine year old female who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis twenty-one years ago. In 2006 her mobility deteriorated after a significant relapse and as a result of her symptoms she has been confined to bed since 2010. Additionally Mary has mild speech difficulties, is doubly incontinent and has a history of depression...
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...Health is defined based on three dimensions: physical, mental and social health; a fairly recent modification from the 18th century viewpoints (Ware,1987). Health is perceived differently according to the different models of health that help in guiding and understanding of health and health issues. In relation to the following essay, two models; biomedical model and social model will be discussed and compared in terms of their relevancy in the modern times. The second half of the essay will focus on the effectiveness of the social model in explaining the increasing prevalence of health conditions related to the obesity epidemic. During the early part of the 20th century, infectious diseases predominated as the highest cause of mortality in both developing and non-developing counties affecting 42% of the world’s population (Tulchinsky and Varavikova,2000; Boutayeb and Boutayeb,2005). This is the era that was heavily reliant on the biomedical model to diagnose illness which focused primarily on the proximal causes of disease (factors that act directly to cause a disease) and was confined to the objective measures for disease treatment (diagnosis solely based on medical facts without considering other possibilities)(Johnson,2012). Since the leading causes of death at those times were infections based i.e. pneumonia (11.8%), T.B. (11.3%) and diarrhoea (8.3%) (National Office of Vital Statistics,1947), the biomedical model’s germ theory which stated that all diseases were caused...
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...Penney, (2013) defines “The Biopsychosocial Model” as an approach or method that guides and helps to understand individual’s biological, psychological and social aspects, for example emotions, behaviours and thoughts. Therefore the importance of understanding human health and illness will aid nurses with knowledge of how to provide holistic care. It is a health care model that deals with the clinical care and practical guidance to the patient. Biopsychosocial model show the importance for practitioners to recognise the factors that contribute to biologically, psychologically and socially of different individuals and showing confidence in understanding different aspects of life to encourage elderly client to show their personality, which aids them and keep them in control at different stages of life HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS. (D) Physical Factors The skeletal system of an individual goes through major changes because the musculoskeletal system response slows down due to aging affecting movement and posture, for example loss of calcium from the bone. Banks et al. (2009) stated that mineral density will decrease after menopause. Therefore at this life stage of women they are prone of hip fracture. Ageing affects bones making them weaker and less dense which make them likely to fracture easily, Individuals might find it difficult to lift things and the less dense the bones the less flexible movement becomes because of the weakness...
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