Health Psychology 8 marks questions answered

Section B:

1. Describe what psychologists have discovered about the patient-practitioner relationship.

Firstly, McKintry and Wang researched non-verbal communication between practitioner and patient through the effect of dress code on patient’s respect and opinions towards doctors. It was found that patients preferred male doctors wearing smart suits and female doctors wearing a skirt and jumper. Overall, patients who preferred a more traditional and formal way of dressing were older people and people with or from professional careers.

Secondly, McKinlay researched verbal communication between patient and practitioner through the use of medical jargon at a maternity war with lower-class women. It was discovered that the women understood less than 40% of the terms correctly even though doctors expected less and they were more likely to know them if they already had had a child. Therefore, Argyle concluded that medical staff use medical jargon to feel more knowledgeable, important and keep the conversations brief. On the other hand, women do not ask for definitions to avoid looking uneducated.

Thirdly, Byrne and Long researched the practitioner style by assessing 2500 tapes of doctors’ interviews across several countries. Two major styles were found. The doctor-centred style would occur when the practitioner kept the atmosphere formal, the focus on the first symptoms reported and did not let the patient introduce new symptoms. On the other hand, the patient-centred style occurred when the doctor would involve the person in the diagnosis and decision for a treatment and kept the atmosphere very informal. It was concluded that a meaningful conversation led to more compliance.

Lastly, Safer et al researched the misuse of health services and delay in seeking treatment through interviewing patients that were at a clinic reporting a new symptom. It was found that the average delay was of 14 days and the main factors affecting it were costs of treatment and the severity of the illness. The researchers concluded that there are three stages to treatment delay: Appraisal delay, which is the time taken to realise the existence of a symptom; Illness delay, which is the time taken between realising the symptoms and seeking medical advice; Utilisation delay, which is the time taken between deciding to seek medical advice and actually doing so. 

 

Section C:

1. Older people are advised to get a flu vaccination every year, but many do not turn up to receive it. Using your knowledge of psychology, suggest how you would improve vaccination rates in older people. Give reasons for your answer.

Firstly, to improve vaccination rates in older people, the communicator of health campaign promotion should probably be the health care providers, such as the NHS, because they are more likely to be believed. This is supported by Baron and Byrne (1997), who suggested that experts are more likely to get the point across to a wiser audience and are more credible since they know what they are talking about. Having celebrities promote the flu vaccination would not work because older audiences are less likely to know famous people of the time and might have prejudices against them.

Secondly, the message should grab the attention of the audience, as suggested by the Hovland-Yale model, and need to be clear and concise in order for it to be understood efficiently. The content should include some fear arousal, because as discovered by Leventhal et al (1967), high-fear groups are often more effective in changing people’s attitudes if a solution is offered to the patients. Therefore, the message should include information about how the flu vaccination could help them, such as the lower chances of seasonal influenza, and information on the possible consequences of not following the advice. Furthermore, it would be best if visual stimuli, such as pictures of other older people getting their vaccination, were included in order to encourage people to follow the advice.

Lastly, the best medium for this type of campaign would probably be television adverts because visual and sound stimuli are the most effective in getting the point across; therefore, more of the older people are likely to follow the advice. Also, it would be more convenient for these people to hear/watch an advert rather than reading a leaflet because they might have sight problems and there would be no specific communicator/speaker of the message. On the other hand, implementing both channels for the health campaign would likely increase the popularity of it since some older people may not own a tv/radio. Moreover, the more repeated a message is, the higher likelihood that people are going to accept and act upon it.

2. Explain why you think an objective measure would be more suitable for Habacuc to use than a more subjective measure. 

Firstly, an objective measure would be more suitable for Habacuc than a more subjective measure because it is more reliable. This is because the data is usually collected with scientific methods, such as blood and urine test, which are quantitative and do not require for interpretation. This makes data valid and replicable. On the other hand, subjective methods are likely to use self-reports, which can be affected by demand characteristics; therefore, his patients may lie about their medicine intake not please him.

Secondly, an objective measure would be more suitable for Habacuc because no extraneous factors can affect the patients. This is because data may be collected without the patients knowing, e.g. repeat prescriptions. In this case, Habacuc would only need to check the pharmacy’s records, eliminating any possibility that the patients may be influenced by the doctor, making the method high in ecological validity. However, using subjective methods to measure adherence would be less internally valid because patients would likely be affected by social desirability bias.

Lastly, an objective measure would be more suitable for Habacuc because the data collected is more generalisable. This is because Habacuc’s patients are likely to have similar characteristics, therefore by using medical dispensers he can pick out which characteristic is affecting medical adherence and improve it. On the other hand, subjective measures would not be generalisable to other patients as everyone is individual and medical adherence may vary for different reasons.

3. Explain why this measure of pain is more suitable for children than methods Jane might have used with adult patients.

Firstly, the Pediatric pain questionnaire is more suitable for children because the McGill questionnaire includes difficult words and tasks for children to understand and complete. Therefore, by making the tasks easier and allowing children to use words they are familiar with, the pain levels could be more valid. This would mean that Jane is more likely to make the correct diagnosis and help the children with a suitable treatment.

Secondly, the use of both qualitative and quantitative data in the questionnaire would make the research more reliable as children often tend to be more misleading that adults, who can be trusted to a higher extent because of their maturity level.Therefore, the types of data can be used to cross-reference one another and test the children’s accuracy.

Thirdly, the Pediatric pain questionnaire is a better method to use because it includes various types of tasks, making it more ecologically valid. This is because they are likely to be familiar to children from school; therefore, it increases the mundane realism of the findings. Also, the visual analogue scale with faces makes it easier for children to identify their pain level that numbers alone, which makes the questionnaire more generalisable.