The multi-factorial model of health and illness is a model that individualizes each factor into groups like; biological factors, Sociocultural factor, environmental factors, personality factors, behavioral factors and stressors. It takes each group and tells about the different places it affects, and how it affects each one. Each individual factor relates to the diagnosis of illnesses in different ways. The psychological factors can be linked to how we manage our stress, or to if we end up having a coronary heart disease (CHD).
The biological factors are all factors that you are unable to control. The biological factor consists of many different factors including family history of illness, congenital disabilities, birth complications, age, gender, and ethnicity. The ethnicity needs to be made aware of, due to the fact that your race may cause vulnerability to certain diseases or health problems like Tay-Sachs disease or sickle cell anemia. The gender can be important because men are more likely to have coronary heart problems than women are (American Heart Association, 2000). Also, it is said that men live an average of seven years shorter than women. The reason being that women tend to try and get health problems taken care of quicker than a man, who will let his symptoms persist and not seek medical attention till it is too late! The biological factor is also where you would categorize the reaction of the cardiovascular system to stress. The functioning of the immune system, your inoculations, medication history, and pain and discomfort also make up the biological factor. The different health issues caused by the biological factor could include cardiovascular health, hypertension, and the serum cholesterol level. People that have a family history of coronary heart disease are more likely to have the problems themselves (American Heart Association, 2000a). Also the same when it comes to certain different kinds of cancers. If your family has a history of any kind of cancer, then it is recommended that you have things examined at least ten years of age younger than the person who had cancer was when they got it. So, if your grandmother had breast cancer when she was 35 you would get your first mammogram at 25.
Some of the Sociocultural factors, I think could be controlled, like health related cultural, religious beliefs, and practices, health related legislation, and health promotion in the workplace or community. I would have to say things like prejudice, discrimination and socioeconomic status are things that are not able to be controlled by you. Now, when it comes to the access of health care (adequacy of available health care, availability of health insurance, and transportation to get to and from the health care facilities), I would say this one depends on your family as you are growing up and can be changed by you when you are old enough to be able to afford health insurance yourself.
The environmental factor includes many of the different things that we live with all around us every day! Vehicular safety, solid waste treatment and sanitation, architectural features (e.g. crowding, injury-resistant design, nontoxic construction materials, aesthetic design, air quality, and noise insulation) are all environmental factors. Also, the air we breathe, water we drink, the radiation the sun gives us, global warming, and the depletion of our ozone are all factors that are considered to be environmental factors. The environmental factor group contains a few things that by ourselves we are unable to control, but together, we may have a better chance of controlling. If we were all to be more conscience about our environment, then I think we could all have a little bit better surroundings. Some people cannot control that they have a poor family and cannot afford the amenities of running water.
Now when it comes to the stressors group, it is almost self-explanatory. Everything you do in a day, every decision you make can be a cause of stress. Daily hassles like making food, having a time deadline, illness in the family, frustration, and pain and discomfort are all considered to be stressors. Even good things can be considered stress, like maintain a steady relationship, having children, or going to going to school. Your body reacts to different stress in different ways. Some stress can be so severe that it causes tension headaches, or maybe even migraines.
The personality group contains many different factors that make you kind of who you are. Things like seeking medical (or avoiding) information about heath risks and stressors, optimism or pessimism, introversion/ extroversion, hostility and suspiciousness are all personality factors that make you the way you are. The tendency to express or hold in feelings of anger and frustration, attribution styles, and the coronary-prone (Type A) personality are all, also, considered to be part of the personality factor along with self-efficacy expectations and physical conflict.
Now the behavioral factor consists of how you behave. The different things like diet (intake of food, fats, vitamins, etc), cigarette smoking, sleep patterns, social skills, and compliance with medical and dental advice are all factors of the behavioral group. Also, your safety practices are included in this group.
I am deciding to write about headaches and premenstrual syndrome as my two health problems discussed in the text. Psychology has played a major role in the understanding and managing these health problems. For headaches, the role has been a really big one with psychology. Persistent stress can cause the muscles in your shoulders, neck, forehead and scalp to contract causing muscle-tension headaches. Psychological factors, such as the tendency to blow things out of proportion, can also lead to having muscle-tension headaches. With these types of headaches, in order to manage them, you would try to manage you stress better, and any type of aspirin may not completely kill the pain, but it would defiantly dull it!
As for premenstrual syndrome (PMS), it is a perfectly natural biological process for women. PMS is the term referred to during the menstrual cycle of 4 to 7 day intervals. PMS symptoms can include depression, anxiety, mood swings, anger and irritability, lack of energy, weight gain, or feeling bloated (both from fluid retention). The symptoms can come before, and remain during the entire menstrual cycle. The best thing to manage the symptoms of PMS is to take Midol, Ibuprofen or other over the counter medicines may be helpful for the cramping. Various prescriptions drugs such as tranquilizers may also be of some help for the stress and anxiety symptoms that might occur.
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