ipl-logo

The Biopsychosocial Model

1198 Words5 Pages

The Biopsychosocial model (Suls & Rothman, 2004) is one of the earliest multi-dimensional models of the health field. This model demonstrates the interaction between biological and social factors in regard to disease analysis. It displays levels above and below a person arranged from global systems at the top and genetic systems at the bottom. In the Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health, Coreil (2010) describes how the biopsychosocial is more concerned with the biological systems within the human body and pays greater attention to this interplay. In the case study, Cockerham (2013) details how social conditions act as the ultimate causes of diabetes and diabetes related fatalities in the community of East Harlem. These social …show more content…

Cockerham (2013) addresses this when he refers to the Asian population in the city. Society plays a big role because it addresses day to day norms and essentially culture that the population participates in. In this example, Chinese immigrants to the city adapt to the American lifestyle, albeit an unhealthy one. This includes a sedentary lifestyle, high-calorie processed food, more snacking and less exercise. In order to acclimate to the new country, they turned down their traditional food, portion size, and even exercise schedule. This illustrates how the influence of society can be detrimental to health when individuals want to follow the “norms”. The interpersonal level of the model is the influence of relationships between people. Family dynamics are key here. It is not inaccurate to conclude that in East Harlem, the lack of resources impacts families. Most likely they all eat unhealthy, are sedentary, are stressed and do not have access to adequate health care. People influence others and individuals see others in their community yet alone their family making unhealthy decisions they will more likely do the same. Such as the Asian community devaluing their Chinese culture as family for more American attitudes. They are influenced by others (advertisements, friends, neighbors) and take up bad …show more content…

In the East Harlem community, many people devalued the severity of diabetes due to personal aspects. For example, one woman said how her life is too stressful to worry about the illness. The toll of living high demand-low control lives is greater in the lesser affluent neighborhoods. Their daily lives are often too hectic for them to participate in a healthier lifestyle. Diabetes adds to this stress because residents voiced that the out of control sugar levels made them more stressed. Individual emotional and physical choices play a crucial role in health and even more so in lower socio-economic neighborhoods. The biological level in terms of diabetes would be the genetic influence Cockerham (2013) addressed. The biological element at play is the TCF7L2 variant gene. This gene increases the diabetes risk but depends on heredity. However, presence itself doesn’t mean diabetes. But because diabetes is growing so rapidly in New York City genetics alone is not a factor. Overall, the biopsychosocial model represents how a disease is a mixture of social and biological factors not just one. They both impact health and are influenced by each other. For example, social aspects can activate biological traits and biological features can be influenced by social (environment)

Show More
Related
395 Words | 2 Pages

I attended the event titled Unnatural Causes Bad Sugar on Thursday, October 22 from 6 to 7 p.m. The event centered on the ways in which many factors influence people’s lives and significantly impact health. The first part of the event centered on watching a short video that focused on the damage to health that Native American tribes faced after they lost their water. There was a large increase in the amount of Native Americans who got diabetes and who were dying. It was thought that biology and genes were one of the main causes behind the increase in diabetes, but in reality there were many other factors. Geographic location, social and economic class status, and income level has an impact on a person’s health.

Read More
536 Words | 3 Pages

Living in underprivileged neighborhoods creates a lot of stress on community members that predispose them to contracting diseases. Epidemiologist, Ana Diez-Roux, states that people living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have a 50% to 80% increased risk of developing heart disease. An improvement of health policies is required to for disadvantaged neighborhoods to

Read More
603 Words | 3 Pages

For example, according to the racial-genetic model health disparities are explained in terms of the individual’s genetics. Hence, African American women are at higher risk for breast cancer. However, even though through primary prevention efforts such as breast cancer awareness campaigns and other forms of education, women living below the poverty line are still at high risk. Primary prevention is the best approach in order to increase quality of life and prolong life.

Read More
430 Words | 2 Pages

Working with the youth in Harlem, I experience socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural factors that influence and lead to health disparities and health inequalities in Harlem. In COMHE 306 class I learned that socioeconomic inequality is one of the most important indicators of poor health.

Read More
812 Words | 4 Pages

Many low-income families don’t have a vehicle so they have to eat nearby fast food and/or convenience store foods. “ Multiple studies in cities and rural communities have shown a correlation between the availability of healthful food and diet-related health, specifically obesity, a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Longer-term studies could back that up soon. The American Diabetes Association's recent scientific statement on the "socioecological determinants" of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes cited similar findings” ( Wahowiak

Read More
529 Words | 3 Pages

As a result of financial struggles, people consume more fast and junk food and avoid more expensive healthy-eating options. The neighborhood limits access to nutritious food and exercise and avoidance of harmful substances, predisposing people to health disparities and shorter life expectancy that start at a young

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

There is more to the importance of our health than just worrying about health care and there is a bigger picture behind it. “East Harlem residents are already burdened by a number of health inequities. This is why we felt it was so important to connect this work with health and conduct this assessment. East Harlem residents have higher rates for a number of health conditions — including asthma, high blood pressure, infant mortality and diabetes — than in Manhattan and the rest of the city, according to the study. For instance, there were 75

Read More
553 Words | 3 Pages

No matter how often I watch excerpts from Unnatural Causes or Weight of the Nation, I’m always left feeling despondent and hopeless. While I realise there are steps that can be taken to reduce the negative health consequences explored in these documentaries, those featured in these films are already suffering the effects of inequality. All I can think about is how sorry I feel for the families who are forced to live unhealthily. Previously in this class, we’ve discussed how socioeconomic disparities can affect the health of specific populations; particularly in segments from Unnatural Causes, it becomes clear how many social determinants like income, zip code, and environment can account for an enormous amount of how a person can live unhealthily. However, there are factors which might not be immediately obvious to professionals.

Read More
403 Words | 2 Pages

• In 2014, African American women were twice as likely as non-Hispanic White women to die from diabetes. Impact of Disparity

Read More
1372 Words | 6 Pages

1. Knowing your family history can be beneficial in many different aspects. Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention knowing your family medical history can help prevent chronic diseases. “Family health history information may help health care providers determine which tests and screenings are recommended to help family members know their health risk”. Physicians will be able to detect signs early on, and even give tips on things in which you can do to reduce your risk for certain diseases, just by simply having a record of your family’s health history.

Read More
2081 Words | 9 Pages

The Biopsychosocial Model The biopsychosocial model of health care allows medical practice to be understood completely in terms of biological, psychological and social factors. The model suggests that every illness can be explained and treated by an interaction between these three factors. The model was proposed by George L. Engel, the Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester, where he challenged the previously prevailing medical model, called the biomedical model, and argued for the introduction of a biopsychosocial model. The biomedical model had viewed illness purely from a pathophysiological perspective, suggesting that every disease could be explained from a biological standpoint.

Read More
1495 Words | 6 Pages

Disparities such as stress, nutrition, and toxic environments all contribute to the healthcare gaps within household families and communities. However, inadequate access to healthful foods has been recognized as a significant barrier to healthful dietary behaviors among individuals and families who live in low-income communities (Evans, Banks, Jennings, Nehme, Nemec, et al., 2015). Lack of food places low-income communities at greater risk for engaging in less healthful dietary behaviors because of insufficient funds. Low-income individuals living in toxic areas with limited healthful food access tend to have less healthful diets and run a higher risk for chronic diseases such as various cancers, cardiovascular disease, and Type II diabetes, compared to individuals and families living in higher income communities (Evans, et al.,

Read More
1635 Words | 7 Pages

These factors are known as the Social Determinants of health. “The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system” (WHO). Dalgren & Whitehead (1991) image of the social determinants of health aims to show the relationship between the person, their environment and their health. The modifiable factors, people’s age, gender and race lie in the centre surrounded by non modifiable factors like profession, housing, education and public policy. There is a direct relationship between people’s environment and their health, e.g. people who live in damp housing have a higher incidence of respiratory health problems (Farell et al.

Read More
2319 Words | 10 Pages

Also social and environmental factors play a part. These include psychosocial (racism & stress), education (literacy & numeracy), economic (income) and physical environment (poor and overcrowded housing) (Donato & Segal, 2013). This socio-economic disadvantage causes higher burden of disease and is due to largely preventable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, mental disorders, chronic respiratory disease, obesity and cancer. Risk factors contributing most to the higher burden of disease in indigenous people are tobacco, high body mass, physical inactivity, high blood cholesterol, and alcohol (COAG Reform council, 2013). For instance obesity increases the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and contributes significantly to the total burden of disease gap between indigenous and non-indigenous people.

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

Evidence: Children living in economic hardships showed a high level of stress that could lead to behavioral problems. IV. Body Paragraph A. Claim: Per the article, for over a decade, Bronx Health REACH, a community health initiative funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and led by the Institute for Family Health, had been implementing a far-reaching program focused on eliminating disparities in access to high quality health care and on improving the health-related behaviors that are risk factors for diabetes and related cardiovascular disease in the

Read More

More about The Biopsychosocial Model

Open Document