BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL OF

HEALTH

Health Psychology
Paper 2
 LEARNING INTENTIONS AND SUCCESS
CRITERIA

• Learning Intentions:

• Success Criteria:
 BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL OF HEALTH
AND WELLBEING (ENDEL)

• Endel argued that it was ill-advised to only explain illness in

terms of physiological dysfunction of the individual.
• Instead, he proposed that health was influenced by many
different systems, which in turn also interacted with and
influenced each other. Together, these systems - biological,
psychological and social - determined one’s health.
• According to this model, none of these factors in isolation is
sufficient to lead definitively to health or illness—it is the
deep interrelation of all three components that leads to a
given outcome
 RESEARCH: NGUYEN ET AL (2016)

Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of a treatment programme designed on the

principles of the BPS model
Method: a retrospective review of data from a weight loss programme at an
outpatient clinic – 142 patients, mean age of 40 years who weighted 95kg at the
beginning of the study. The BPS programme combined the medical knowledge of
insulin with CBT and behavioural therapy (to break unhealthy eating habits).
Participants were taught about insulin and its role in fat storage. They studied the food
groups and were advised to limit the intake of these products in order to keep insulin
low.
Phentermine (a drug that suppresses appetite while maintaining energy and alertness)
was also prescribed. Participants were also asked to follow an eating schedule with 5
meals per day and they were instructed to never starve themselves but avoid sweets
and artificial sweeteners.
 NGUYEN ET AL (2016)

• Results: there was a 10.8% decrease in weight on average from baseline to

completing the programme (86 days) and BMI decreased from 34.6 to 30.1
• Conclusion: a holistic combination (biopsychosocial) of approaches seems to
be effective in the treatment of obesity, in outpatient clinic settings even with
monthly short visits.
 STEPTOE AND MARMOT (2003)

• Steptoe and Marmot conducted a survey on the interaction of social, psychological, and
physiological aspects of stress.
• The aim of the study was to look at differences in physiological stress responses to a number
of stressors.
• Method: The researchers used a sample of 227 British men and women, aged 47–59.They
used seven questionnaires, each related to a different stressor. Blood samples were also taken,
in order to have a physiological measure for stress - for example, levels of cortisol - that could
indicate an elevated risk for heart problems
• The seven stressors in this investigation were: job stress; environmental stress, neighbourhood
and housing issues; economic problems; lack of social support from close relatives; loneliness;
lack of feelings of control over one’s own life; and lack of self-efficacy in relation to stressors.
Self-efficacy is defined as a person’s feeling of competence to deal with a specific task or
problem.
 STEPTOE AND MARMOT (2003)

• Results: The researchers found that a person scoring high on one stressor did not
necessarily have a high score on another. However, participants who had a high
mean score on all seven stressors also had blood tests indicating that they were in
the high-risk group for developing heart problems. The same relationship was seen
in terms of psychological effects of stress - for example, depression, anxiety, and
low quality of life.
• Conclusion: The researchers argue on the basis of these results that stress research
must focus on specific stressors in isolation, as well as combinations of stressors,
since the accumulated effect of several stressors may put individuals at increased
risk of heart disease. Since health research is, to a large extent, about prevention of
illness, knowing which stress factors are implicated in heart disease can help to
design interventions
 CRITICAL THINKING: STRENGTHS AND
LIMITATIONS OF THE MODEL?

• What do you think are some strengths and some limitations of the model?

• You will be able to explain one health issue (obesity) from the lens of each of
the approaches in order to demonstrate understanding of the model.
 Among the advantages of the biopsychosocial model (BPS) is that it looks at individuals holistically - as
systems - rather than passive responders to biological destiny. It believes that a person can take control
over their health behaviour.
 The model also puts a focus on prevention with the goal of avoiding health problems - or at least postponing
them - as a result of promoting positive behaviours such as a healthy diet, exercise and stress management. A
growing amount of research suggests that it is the combination of health status, beliefs about health, and
sociocultural barriers to accessing health care that influence the likelihood of an individual engaging in
health-promoting behaviours.
× There are some limitations of such a model. First, it is not always clear how and to what extent these
factors interact. When carrying out research on one aspect of the model, it is often not possible to isolate
that variable from other factors. For example, when studying the cognitive origins of stress, one cannot
control for physiological factors. As a result, the model's predictive validity is often questioned.
× Another limitation is simply its practical application. Being able to diagnose or treat an individual patient
with regard to biological, psychological and sociocultural considerations is both time and resource
consuming.
× Overarching idea rather than a concrete theory
 EXAMPLE QUESTIONS

• Discuss the biopsychosocial model of health [22]