Lay Knowledge Of Health
Leventhal et al. (1985, cited in Ogden, 2007) described factors that they believed predicted health behaviours as: social factors (learning, reinforcement, modelling and social norms),
Genetics, emotional factors (anxiety, stress, tension and fear) and perceived symptoms (pain or breathlessness) and the beliefs of the lay public and health professionals, which is given in more detail later on.
An example of such an intervention is the health belief model (HBM) (Ogden, 2007). The health belief model (HBM) intends to change health behaviour so that the likelihood of health seeking behaviour is more likely. It does this by allowing the person to consider the susceptibility, the severity of the illness, the benefits of changing and carrying …show more content…
out the behaviour, the internal cues to action, such as current health symptoms, and self-efficacy. Such a model is critiqued because it suggests that information is consciously processed, however this may not be true of all health seeking behaviours. The role of the environmental factors is not considered at all relevant, it assumes that fear and denial do not exist and that denial is an individual barrier which prevents a person from entering the HBM. It does not consider the self-efficacy of the individual. It also assumes that the individual readily understands all the information they have been given; however, this is not entirely true because different beliefs and perceptions of health and illness exist.
In contrast to the medical profession is the lay knowledge of health.
The lay knowledge of health is the social knowledge that patients use when talking to health professionals. Their knowledge is a social representation of health based on their past experiences of health and illness, social stories, media and folk knowledge. This means that lay knowledge is important in understanding health and illness in terms of what people think are the causes and the transmissions of illnesses. This means that policy makers can understand the non-medical social models and create policies that suit the opinions of the lay public. Within the lay model of health is the lay referral system which is the social process if how lay people consult their doctor (Friedson, 1961 in Busfield 2011). This showed that lay people only consult their doctor after talking with their peers. In terms of lay explanations and social policy, lay theories can show whether people believe that they are responsible for their own health or that society is. An example of this is the concept by folk models of health by Helman (1978, cited in Ogden 2007), who used the phrase ‘Feed a cold, starve a fever’, which implied that the lay population believe that a cold is caused by society but that a fever is because a person has not looked after their own …show more content…
health.
An example of lay theories and stress at work is shown by Rydstedt et al.
(1994) in a longitudinal study. This research used 2270 participants who had their lay beliefs about work and stress measured by a 36 factor scale. The results showed that the lay explanation for stress at work was related to the perceived stress of work, such as danger and pressure, so that the people who perceived these to be higher were subject to more stress at work. The results then showed that lay beliefs in routine and external control were stressors at work, whereas inner control and finding help were not stressors at work. The implication of this research is that, when compared to earlier research, the lay definitions have the same meaning and have existed throughout generations in
society.
In order to conclude the political left suggests that health is the responsibility of the state and the political right suggests that health is the responsibility of an individual person. The advantage of using policies for social inequalities is that there is a wage per family, with the less able of society being collectively cared for by their relatives. Doing this means that the future workforce is protected from ill health and is more able to work. A Marxist approach to policy is a disadvantage because it can alienate people with illnesses that are not recognised by the state. A neo-liberalist approach is beneficial because it promotes a delivery of welfare by a system of taxation to increase health care provision for societal groups, however many of the health bodies have been replaced by businesses which aim to return a profit and are linked to the government. This means that they are designed to raise a profit and not necessarily target the correct social inequality groups and so inequality still exists especially with the lack of rise in wages, which is in contrast to a Marxist economy. In terms of lifestyle choices, these are a right way form of political thinking. Lifestyle choices mean that by a process of a social learning programme a person can learn to use health seeking behaviours but there are barriers associated with doing this such as denial and a disagreement with medical theories. This is also because the lay public use public knowledge to attribute their cause of ill health. Overall, policy decisions should be made both by the state to reduce social inequalities and also by the individual to ensure people make the correct health seeking choices. An intervention that does this can be considered health education in schools.
Genetics, emotional factors (anxiety, stress, tension and fear) and perceived symptoms (pain or breathlessness) and the beliefs of the lay public and health professionals, which is given in more detail later on.
An example of such an intervention is the health belief model (HBM) (Ogden, 2007). The health belief model (HBM) intends to change health behaviour so that the likelihood of health seeking behaviour is more likely. It does this by allowing the person to consider the susceptibility, the severity of the illness, the benefits of changing and carrying …show more content…
out the behaviour, the internal cues to action, such as current health symptoms, and self-efficacy. Such a model is critiqued because it suggests that information is consciously processed, however this may not be true of all health seeking behaviours. The role of the environmental factors is not considered at all relevant, it assumes that fear and denial do not exist and that denial is an individual barrier which prevents a person from entering the HBM. It does not consider the self-efficacy of the individual. It also assumes that the individual readily understands all the information they have been given; however, this is not entirely true because different beliefs and perceptions of health and illness exist.
In contrast to the medical profession is the lay knowledge of health.
The lay knowledge of health is the social knowledge that patients use when talking to health professionals. Their knowledge is a social representation of health based on their past experiences of health and illness, social stories, media and folk knowledge. This means that lay knowledge is important in understanding health and illness in terms of what people think are the causes and the transmissions of illnesses. This means that policy makers can understand the non-medical social models and create policies that suit the opinions of the lay public. Within the lay model of health is the lay referral system which is the social process if how lay people consult their doctor (Friedson, 1961 in Busfield 2011). This showed that lay people only consult their doctor after talking with their peers. In terms of lay explanations and social policy, lay theories can show whether people believe that they are responsible for their own health or that society is. An example of this is the concept by folk models of health by Helman (1978, cited in Ogden 2007), who used the phrase ‘Feed a cold, starve a fever’, which implied that the lay population believe that a cold is caused by society but that a fever is because a person has not looked after their own …show more content…
health.
An example of lay theories and stress at work is shown by Rydstedt et al.
(1994) in a longitudinal study. This research used 2270 participants who had their lay beliefs about work and stress measured by a 36 factor scale. The results showed that the lay explanation for stress at work was related to the perceived stress of work, such as danger and pressure, so that the people who perceived these to be higher were subject to more stress at work. The results then showed that lay beliefs in routine and external control were stressors at work, whereas inner control and finding help were not stressors at work. The implication of this research is that, when compared to earlier research, the lay definitions have the same meaning and have existed throughout generations in
society.
In order to conclude the political left suggests that health is the responsibility of the state and the political right suggests that health is the responsibility of an individual person. The advantage of using policies for social inequalities is that there is a wage per family, with the less able of society being collectively cared for by their relatives. Doing this means that the future workforce is protected from ill health and is more able to work. A Marxist approach to policy is a disadvantage because it can alienate people with illnesses that are not recognised by the state. A neo-liberalist approach is beneficial because it promotes a delivery of welfare by a system of taxation to increase health care provision for societal groups, however many of the health bodies have been replaced by businesses which aim to return a profit and are linked to the government. This means that they are designed to raise a profit and not necessarily target the correct social inequality groups and so inequality still exists especially with the lack of rise in wages, which is in contrast to a Marxist economy. In terms of lifestyle choices, these are a right way form of political thinking. Lifestyle choices mean that by a process of a social learning programme a person can learn to use health seeking behaviours but there are barriers associated with doing this such as denial and a disagreement with medical theories. This is also because the lay public use public knowledge to attribute their cause of ill health. Overall, policy decisions should be made both by the state to reduce social inequalities and also by the individual to ensure people make the correct health seeking choices. An intervention that does this can be considered health education in schools.