Behavior Science
You have two choices:
To control your mind or To let your mind control you.
(Paulo Coelho)
Muhammad Nauman Sarwar
(M.Phil C.P)
Riphah International University Faisalabad
BEHAVIOR
Behavior is a response of an individual or group to an
action, environment, person, or stimulus.
1. Behavior is everything a person does.
2. Behaviors is
• that can be observed
• that can be heard/seen
• that can be measured
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
• Behavioral science is a branch of social science that derives its
concepts from observation of the behavior of living organisms.
• Broadly defined, behavioral science is the study of human habits,
actions, and intentions.
Combining knowledge of sociology, psychology and
anthropology with strong observation, research, and
communication skills, a behavioral scientist works with
communities and individuals examining behavior and
decision-making.
Behavioral science has three domains:
1. Psychology
2. Sociology
3. Anthropology
PSYCHOLOGY
• Psychology is a scientific study of human behavior and mental process
• Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions.
• Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior .
• -Psychology is focused to individual person.
SOCIOLOGY
• Sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of
human society . It is focused to a group of people belonging to a society .
• Sociology is the scientific study of society ,
including patterns of social relationships,
social interaction, and culture.
ANTHROPOLOGY
• Anthropology is the study of what makes us human.
• Anthropology is the study of people throughout the world, their evolutionary
history, how they behave, adapt to different environments, communicate and
socialize with one another .
• The study of anthropology is concerned both with the biological features that
make us human (such as physiology, genetic makeup, nutritional history and
evolution) and with social aspects (such as language, culture, politics, family
and religion).
COMPONENTS OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
• Is a discipline
• Emphasizes human mental process
• Gives a ‘I’ feeling
Psychology • Individual demands empirical evidence
• Is a discipline
• Emphasizes human society
• Gives a ‘we’ feeling
• Society demands empirical evidence that
Sociology
• links sociological ideas to live experience
• Is a discipline
• Emphasizes human society, & association in the past
Anthropology • Empirical evidence that links with documents, tools, fossil…
Topic Domains for the Behavior Science In
Medical Teaching:
1. Mind body interaction
2. Patient behavior
3. Physician role and behavior
4. Physician patient interaction
5. Social and cultural issues in health care
6. Health policy and economics
Relevance and importance of Behavioral Science
to Health & Medicine
Relevance is demonstrated in the:
• Aetiology of illness,
• Presentation of illnesses,
• Delivery of health care,
• Aspects of social and psychological treatment
• Behavioral and social factors are important in planning for health care with
assessment and treatment of both physical and psychiatric disorder .
• Cultural factors play a role in the behavior of the patient and treatment.
• Psychological tests help in the psychiatric diagnosis.
• -Systematic study of psycho-social phenomena (including
problems) in health and disease
• -Investigating and understanding psycho-social crises related to
health and disease (e.g., disease outbreak)
• -Explaining social responses to poverty , exclusion,
marginalization, prejudice and discrimination which influences
healthcare services.
• -Address the issues of healthcare provider - patient relationship
Categories of Behavioral Sciences:
• Decision Sciences: Decision sciences deals with the decision processes .
It concentrate mainly on Psychology .
• Communication Sciences: Communication Sciences deals with
communication strategies used by human. Communication implies
human interaction and relationship.
It concentrate mainly on Sociology and Anthropology .
HEALTH RELATED BEHAVIORS
Health behavior is a behavior that affects health:
–Health impairing habits, which is called "behavioral pathogens“
(for example smoking, eating a high fat diet)
–Health protective behaviors, which is defined as "behavioral immunogens" (e.g.
attending a health check).
-Illness behavior is a behavior aimed at seeking a remedy
(e.g. going to the doctor).
-Sick role behavior is an activity aimed at getting well (e.g. taking prescribed medication
or resting). In other words, sick role is behavior and obligations expected from a sick
person.
ILLNESS BEHAVIOR
• Illness behavior is described as the state when the individual feels ill and
behaves in a particular way
• Illness is a psychological concept:
– It has different meanings for different people
– It’s based upon an individual’s personal evaluation of his/her bodily state
and ability to function
ILLNESS BEHAVIOR
A highly personal state
Person’s Physical, Emotional, Social, development or
spiritual functioning
Not synonymous with disease
May or may not be related to disease
only person can say he or she is ill (Highly subjective)
Factor that influence illness behavior
Age, Sex, level of education, culture, religion, past experience
Seriousness of sign/symptoms
If these symptoms affect the ordinary life
Persistence and frequency of symptoms
Personal tolerance to symptoms
Level of knowledge, cultural opinion about these symptoms
Severity of illness or being fatal.
Stigma: community opinion towards patients of that illness
Availability of medical services and treatment
Trusted services and health providers
Disease versus ill/illness behavior:
• Disease is physical malfunctioning of the body .
• Illness is subjective perception of whether one is sick or not. It is
possible to have a disease and not feel ill, e.g., undetected diabetes.
Also possible to feel ill without any detectable disease, e.g.,
hypochondriasis.
SICK ROLE
• The sick role – any activity undertaken for the purpose of getting well by
those who consider themselves ill.
• This is a social role.
• A patient who enters the sick role has both rights and obligations.
• There are positives and negatives to the sick role.
BEHAVIOR CAUSING ILL-HEALTH
• Behavior that result in unintentional and intentional injuries
• Tobacco use
• Alcohol and other drug abuse
• Sexual behavior that result in HIV infection or other sexually transmitted
diseases and in unplanned pregnancies
• Diet choices that contribute to disease
• Lack of physical activity
Behavior related to chronic illness
• 1- seeking medical attention in the presence of symptoms, especially referral
behavior (“new” sign and symptoms revealed at examination)and delay
• 2- compliance with medical regimen
• 3- staying in treatment and
• 4- modification of life style habits to reduce risk
Health-Related Behaviors for Chronic Disease
Prevention
Five key health-related behaviors for chronic disease prevention
are:
• Never smoking,
• Getting regular physical activity,
• Consuming no alcohol or only moderate amounts,
• Maintaining a normal body weight, and
• Obtaining daily sufficient sleep.
How to change a behavior
Health Belief Model (HBM)
• The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a psychological health behavior change model
developed to explain and predict health-related behaviors, particularly in regard to
the uptake of health services.
• The health belief model suggests that people's beliefs about health problems,
perceived benefits of action and barriers to action, and self-efficacy explain
engagement (or lack of engagement) in health-promoting behavior .
• A stimulus, or cue (Peer pressure) to action, must also be present in order to trigger
the health-promoting behavior .
Components of HBM
• Perceived susceptibility: This refers to a person's subjective
perception of the risk of acquiring an illness or disease.
• Perceived severity: This refers to a person's feelings on the
seriousness of contracting an illness or disease.
• Perceived benefits: The course of action a person takes in preventing
(or curing) illness or disease relies on consideration and evaluation of
both perceived susceptibility and perceived benefit, such that the
person would accept the recommended health action if it was
perceived as beneficial.
• Perceived barriers: This refers to a person's feelings on the
obstacles to performing a recommended health action. The person
weighs the effectiveness of the actions against the perceptions that
it may be expensive, dangerous (e.g., side effects), unpleasant
(e.g., painful), time-consuming, or inconvenient.
• Cue to action: This is the stimulus needed to trigger the decision-
making process to accept a recommended health action. These
cues can be internal (e.g., chest pains, wheezing, etc.) or external
(e.g., advice from others, illness of family member, newspaper
article, etc.).
• Self-efficacy: This refers to the level of a person's confidence in
his or her ability to successfully perform a behavior .
CONCLUSION
• Mere focus on medicine and clinical domain of healthcare are not
sufficient to ensure health.
• Combination of knowledge of medicine and skill in behavioral science
are complimentary for effective healthcare services.
• Focus on behavioral changes for compliance to treatment, healthy
practices and healthy life-style are the challenges against prevailing
Chronic Diseases.
