In search of an empowering and motivating personal wellbeing pathway for Finnish heart patients

Tuohimaa, Hanna

doi:10.1186/2193-1801-3-475

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Barriers to pursuing a healthy lifestyle can include poor mental health as well as experiences of stigma (structural, social and self) (Graham et al 2013 ). Research suggests that health and wellbeing related services are key to providing a structural element through which society can promote healthier living, in cooperation with the individual (Tuohimaa 2014 ). For some people, a strong sensory attraction to unhealthy palatable foods, and to overeating, may also negatively impact the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle (Carlos et al 2014 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of control over different causes of death and the accuracy of risk estimations

Brown

Sillence

Pepper

2023

J Public Health (Berl.)

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Background A large number of deaths could be avoided by improving health behaviours. The degree to which people invest in their long-term health is influenced by how much they believe they can control their risk of death. Identifying causes of death believed to be uncontrollable, but likely to occur, may provide actionable targets for health interventions to increase control beliefs and encourage healthier behaviours. Method We recruited a nationally representative online sample of 1500 participants in the UK. We assessed perceived control, perceived personal likelihood of death, certainty of risk estimation, and perceived knowledge for 20 causes of death. We also measured overall perceived uncontrollable mortality risk (PUMR) and perceived prevalence for each of the Office for National Statistics’ categories of avoidable death. Findings Risk of death due to cancer was considered highly likely to occur but largely beyond individual control. Cardiovascular disease was considered moderately controllable and a likely cause of death. Drugs and alcohol were perceived as risks both high in control and low in likelihood of death. However, perceptions of control over specific causes of death were found not to predict overall PUMR, with the exception of cardiovascular disease. Finally, our sample substantially overestimated the prevalence of drug and alcohol-related deaths in the UK. Conclusions We suggest that more can be done by public health communicators to emphasise the lifestyle and behavioural changes that individuals can make to reduce their general cancer risk. More work is needed to understand the barriers to engaging with preventative behaviours and maintaining a healthy heart. Finally, we call for greater journalistic responsibility when reporting health risks to the public.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of control over different causes of death and the accuracy of risk estimations

Brown

Sillence

Pepper

2023

J Public Health (Berl.)

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“…Fortunately, alternatives to this false dichotomy have begun to emerge. In a parallel to equivalent, above-referenced developments in public health practice, researchers such as Minkler ( 1999 ), Devisch ( 2012 ), Tuohimaa ( 2014 ), and Neutelings et al ( 2017 ) have recommended a "co-responsibility" approach, encompassing both structure and agency. One example is an empirical study of injecting drug users focusing on differences between those who did and did not avoid contracting HIV and hepatitis C (Meylakhs et al, 2015 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responsibility in Medical Sociology: A Second, Reflexive Look

Rier

2022

Am Soc

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Personal responsibility has emerged as an important element in many countries’ public health planning, and has attracted substantial debate in public health discourse. Contemporary medical sociology typically resists such “responsibilization” as victim-blaming, by privileged elites, that obscures important structural factors and inequities. This paper, based primarily on a broad review of how contemporary Anglophone medical sociology literatures treat responsibility and blame, points out advantages of taking responsibility seriously, particularly from the individual’s perspective. These advantages include: empowerment; responsibility-as-coping-mechanism; moral dignity; and the pragmatic logic of doing for oneself, rather than passively awaiting societal reforms. We also offer possible reasons why sociologists and their subjects view these issues so differently, and suggest some areas for future research.

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“…Barriers to pursuing a healthy lifestyle can include poor mental health as well as experiences of stigma (structural, social, and self) (Graham et al, 2013). Research suggests that health and wellbeing related services are key to providing a structural element through which society can promote healthier living, in cooperation with the individual (Tuohimaa, 2014). There is also an established body of empirical research on neighbourhood effects on health behaviours (Galster, 2012).…”

Section: The Relationship Between Perceptions Of Control Over Specifi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Control Over Different Causes of Death and the Accuracy of Risk Estimations

Brown¹,

Sillence²,

Pepper³

2023

Preprint

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Background: A large number of deaths could be avoided by improving health behaviours. The degree to which people invest in their long-term health is influenced by how much they believe they can control their risk of death. Identifying causes of death believed to be uncontrollable, but likely to occur, may provide actionable targets for health interventions to increase control beliefs and encourage healthier behaviours. Method: We recruited a nationally representative online sample of 1,500 participants in the UK. We assessed perceived control, perceived personal likelihood of death, certainty of risk estimation, and perceived knowledge for 20 causes of death. We also measured overall perceived uncontrollable mortality risk (PUMR), and perceived prevalence for each of the Office for National Statistics’ categories of avoidable death. Findings: Risk of death due to cancer was considered highly likely to occur but largely beyond individual control. Cardiovascular disease was considered moderately controllable and a likely cause of death. Drugs and alcohol were perceived as risks both high in control and low in likelihood of death. However, perceptions of control over specific causes of death were found not to predict overall PUMR, with the exception of cardiovascular disease. Finally, our sample substantially overestimated the prevalence of drug and alcohol-related deaths in the UK. Conclusions: We suggest that more can be done by public health communicators to emphasise the lifestyle and behavioural changes that individuals can make to reduce their general cancer risk. More work is needed to understand the barriers to engaging with preventative behaviours and maintaining a healthy heart. Finally, we call for greater journalistic responsibility when reporting health risks to the public.

show abstract

In search of an empowering and motivating personal wellbeing pathway for Finnish heart patients

Cited by 5 publications

References 51 publications

Perceptions of control over different causes of death and the accuracy of risk estimations

Perceptions of control over different causes of death and the accuracy of risk estimations

Responsibility in Medical Sociology: A Second, Reflexive Look

Perceptions of Control Over Different Causes of Death and the Accuracy of Risk Estimations

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