introduction Sociology and psychology in public health Theories of sociology and psychology Sociological and psychology methods, investigations and interventions. Developing interventions to change health-related behaviour and; Conclusion

1. Sociolog y and
Psycholog y in Public
Health
By: Adam Izzeldin, BPEH, MPH
Department of International Health, TMDU.
Myfanwy Morgan, Margaret Reid, Jane Ogden. Oxford Textbook of Public Health.

2. Key components
introduction
 Sociology and psychology in public health
 Theories of sociology and psychology
 Sociological and psychology methods,
investigations and interventions.
 Developing interventions to change healthrelated behaviour and;
 Conclusion


3. Introduction

Sociology and psychology share a number of
common interests and areas of study in the
public health field:

issues relating to the psychosocial environment
as causes of disease, helpseeking behaviours
and adherence with treatment.

issues relating to ageing and disability, as well as
effective health promotion interventions and the
measurement of health status and quality of life.

4. settings of psychology and sociology

5. History of medical sociology

The period of rapid growth of medical
sociology began in the 1950s in the United
States and about a decade later in the United
Kingdom.

The founding of an international journal,
Social Science and Medicine, which forms a
marker in the development of the discipline,
occurred in 1966.

6. shared interests between
sociology and public health

The adoption of public health to social model of
the causes of ill health and appropriate
interventions (many health problems as social
and environmental rather than individual-healthy
public policy).

The move towards a more social and
participative model of healthcare was also
encouraged by broader changes in society.

7.
Integration between sociology
and public health

Indeed it is increasingly difficult to determine
precise disciplinary boundaries, as sociology,
psychology, and public health medicine

Sociologists are now likely to team up with other
social scientists, for example, anthropologists
and social geographers, as well as with medical
public health specialists, to address public
health problems (integrated team)

8. Structural theories

Regard society as constraining and shaping the
beliefs, values, and patterns of behaviour of social
groups

Functionalist theory proposed a view of society in
which the various parts worked together fairly
harmoniously .

Parsons identified illness as dysfunctional for the
smooth running of society because he argued that
sick people are not able to fulfill their normal social
role

9. Social action theories

to understand subjective meanings, with social
action forming a product of how individuals
interpret the world and interact with others on the
basis of these meanings.

comprise different theoretical positions, most
notably those of symbolic interactionism,
phenomenology, ethnomethodology, and social
constructionism

10. Sociological methods
Quantitative
Qualitative
View of
the
world
Social reality exists as objective,
Social reality is subjectively
measurable phenomena, external to the interpreted and experienced
individual (positivism)
(interpretive)
Logic of
enquiry
Deductive based on testing formal
hypotheses to establish causal
relationships
Inductive reasoning with
understanding of social
processes derived from data
Research Quantitative, with sample
design
selection, data collection, and analyses
based on scientific procedures and
ensuring repeatability and generalizable
results
Qualitative, based on detailed
study of social processes of groups
of interest to elicit interpretations
and responses
Validity
Corresponds to subjective
reality; other terms include
trustworthiness credibility,
plausibility
Corresponds to an objective reality

11. Research designs in
sociology

Ethnography: observing the social structure and
local culture of small groups

Participatory action research (PAR) and user
involvement: participatory, democracy and its
contribution for science and local change.

Mixed methods: quantitative and qualitative
approaches to achieve a broader understanding
and avoid weakness

12. Areas of sociological
investigation

13. Examples for applications of
social interventions
Meanings and identity
 Biographical disruption
 Suffering and loss of self
 Adaptation and self-management
 Sociology and place
 Food choices and physical exercise
 Social capital


14. Psychology in public health

Psychological theories recently focus on mental
health through the work of clinical psychologists
and their interest in problems such as anxiety,
depression, psychosis, and phobias.

The role of psychological factors extent to
understanding physical health problems and is
most studied within the field of health
psychology.

15. So, how dose psychology
contribute in health
problems?
and what are areas of
psychology in public
health?

16. The various roles of psychology

17. Psychological theories

18. Psychological models

19. Health Belief Model (HBM)

It was developed initially by Rosenstock (1966)
and further by Becker and colleagues
throughout the 1970s and 1980s (Becker &
Rosenstock 1987)

The HBM predicts that behaviour is a result of a
set of core beliefs.

Behaviour is predicted by beliefs in:
Susceptibility and severity of illness; the costs
and benefit involved in carrying out the
behaviour; cues to action, which may be internal
or external; health motivation, and perceived
control

20. Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

The TPB proposes that behavioural intentions
(‘plans of action in pursuit of behavioural goals’) are
a result of the following beliefs (Ajzen 1988) :
-Attitude towards a behaviour
-subjective norm
-perceived behavioural control
(internal & external)

21. Self-regulatory model

Leventhal and his colleagues (1997) defined
illness cognitions as ‘a patient's own implicit
common sense beliefs about their illness’.

five cognitive dimensions of these beliefs:
Identity ; perceived cause of illness; time line;
consequences ; curability and controllability.

This process occurs via the three stages of
interpretation, coping, and appraisal.

22. Psychological
investigations

Obesity and diet researches highlighted the
importance of factors such as the food industry,
food advertising, food labelling, the availability of
energy dense foods.

An environment which has been increasingly
designed to encourage a sedentary lifestyle
through the use of cars, computers, and television.

Central to this change is a shift in two key
behaviours; eating behaviour and physical activity

23. Developing interventions to
change health-related
behaviour

Health psychology theory provides a framework for:
1-understanding behaviours and beliefs and ;
2-exploring how these factors may relate to illnesses.

These theories have drawn on:
1- social cognition models,
2-implementations intentions and ;
3-the self regulatory model to inform interventions
aiming to change behaviours and beliefs.

24. So, how do our psychological models
work to change behaviors ?
Or
Or

25. Using social cognition
models (SCMs)
1.
Identify target behaviour and target population;
2.
identify the most salient beliefs about the target behaviour
in the target population using open-ended questions;
3.
conduct a study involving closed questions to determine
which beliefs are the best predictors of behavioural
intention. Target the best belief ;
4.
analyse the data to determine the beliefs which best
discriminate between intenders and non-intenders;
5.
develop an intervention to change these target beliefs

26. Using implementation
intentions

SCMs emphasize the relationship
between the intention to behave in a
certain way and actual behaviour.
However, that intentions do not
always translate into behaviour.

Some experimental research has
shown that encouraging individuals
to make implementation intentions
can actually increase the correlation
between intentions and behaviour

27. Using the SRM

Research indicates that patients' beliefs about their illness
may relate to a range of health outcomes in terms of
adherence to medication, attendance at rehabilitation, return
to work, and adjustment.

Interventions have therefore been developed to change
beliefs and promote more positive outcomes.

Petrie et al. (2002) studied cognition of MI patients .the
results showed that patients who had received the
intervention reported more positive views about their MI at
follow-up in terms of beliefs about consequences, time line,
control/cure, and symptom distress, also hey discharged
earlier from hospital and returned to work

28. Now, what is your own
concept about sociology
and psychology in public
health?
Would you incorporate
them into your future’s
missions? ..if yes, how?

29. Conclusion

Both sociology and psychology are now well established as
part of multi-disciplinary public health and are increasingly
forging new partnerships with anthropology, social policy, and
geography in studying public health issues.

sociological investigation remains the worldwide concern with
socioeconomic and gender inequalities in health, often
manifest through inequities of access to healthcare, in
particular for ethnic minorities, refugees and older age.

Another increasing policy focus is the importance of health
promotion and health education based on behaviour change
techniques to achieve risk reduction through life style change
and for chronic disease management.

30. Thank you for listening
"If you don’t know where you’re going, you wind
up someplace else." Yogi Berra