Reacting to Health Problems and Obtaining Health Care
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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.
Chapter 13: The Role of Health Psychology in Seeking and Obtaining Health Care
Critical Thinking Exercise: Reacting to Health Problems and Obtaining Health Care
After reading Chapter 13, you learned that many in the medical and health care communities are shifting their treatment paradigms to include collaborative or integrated patient care. This innovative type of care emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of health care and encourages increased communication and interaction among providers for a given patient (e.g., physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, and so on). Apply what you learned about modern health care to the following case study.
Tamara is a 15-year-old African American female whose family, which includes two younger siblings, lives in a middle-class neighborhood in the United States. Both her parents work in professional jobs. Tamara was rushed to the doctor after passing out at school and complaining about intermittent loss of vision. Tamara had been experiencing dizzy spells for several weeks, but did not discuss her health issues with her parents or teachers. She did not think her dizzy spells would be taken seriously by her parents or doctors. She was diagnosed with a tumor in her brain and has been admitted to the hospital for observation and treatment. She has begun to show signs of severe depression and anxiety.
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Research has shown us that compared to children and elderly populations, adolescents are less likely to see the doctor or disclose somatic complaints. Therefore, it is not surprising that Tamara did not disclose her dizzy spells to family or teachers. Most adolescents do not require a yearly physical unless they are on a sport’s team that requires one and so there was no routine medical care that would have caught Tamara’s tumor as she was not on a sports team. With respect to gender, women are more likely to visit a doctor than men, but they may be taken less seriously by health professionals. Tamara had a fear that her health complaints would not be taken seriously by a doctor.
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Tamara’s parents are both employed in professional jobs and the health insurance they likely have covers all members of the family. This provides their daughter with access to lifesaving health care. Since both parents are identified as middle class and are working, they likely have some financial capital to help with the beginning of treatment.
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Health researchers have found that the perception of a given illness by the health care provider is just as strong as its biological components. Therefore, if the perception of an illness is considered to be a more acute condition than a chronic condition, it will be treated differently by the health care provider. Certain diseases in different nations are treated differently based on the interpretation of that disease.
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If Tamara took a repressor approach to her tumor diagnosis, she is likely to ignore or deny her diagnosis, and, in doing so, distance and detach herself from all information and interactions related to that diagnosis.
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Tamara is a teenager, which adds an additional social and emotional component to a serious diagnosis. She is already presenting with depression and anxiety and is also likely withdrawing socially from her family and friends. Tamara would benefit from collaborative care in which her specialists, physicians, and psychologists would all communicate around her care. She could possibly participate in weekly skills or therapy groups with other teenagers. She would also likely benefit from learning psychological techniques that could reduce her depression and anxiety, which would in turn help her overall health and outlook.