Psychosocial Factors in Patient Education Personality Styles and Steps in Adjustment to an Illness
Psychosocial Factors that Affect the Health Workers and the Impact of the Factors on Educating Patients
Psychosocial elements are characteristics or attributes of a person that have a mental or social influence on them. Such factors can identify persons in terms of their social environment and how it impacts their overall wellness. Defensive psychosocial characteristics and psychological risks are among the psychosocial elements to examine.
In the society, psychosocial resources include social relationships and social assistance (Thomas et al., 2020). Coping ability or mastery, a feeling of clarity, and self-esteem are all essential psychological resources that impact both health care providers and patients. Psychosocial factors influence patient learning and its efficacy in terms of a patient’s responsiveness to information and their ability or readiness to follow directions.
For health care education to be successful, healthcare workers must avoid psychosocial factors that can make the patient not learn to their full capacities, such as negativity and attitude when teaching the patient (Albus et al., 2019). Giving patients knowledge about their health or therapy without considering what would assist or prevent their subsequent recommendation is inefficient and can result in poor patient teaching results.
Psychosocial Factors Affecting the Patient and Their Impact on Patient Teaching
Psychosocial variables influencing patient health include biological factors such as age, behavioral issues such as smoking, and social factors such as unemployment. These variables do not affect health in isolation but rather interact with the larger context (Health Knowledge, 2022).
Beliefs about their condition, previous encounters, mindsets, and views are all psychosocial aspects that influence the patient’s capacity to accept and comply with their instruction (Albus et al., 2019). All these elements will impact each patient’s reactions not just to symptoms and sickness, but also to patient instruction and suggestions presented.
What are Personality Types and Examples of Strategies Used to Assist Patients?
Personality is the collection of cognitive, interpersonal, and intellectual characteristics that characterize each human. According to Isaksson et al. 2021), personality style is generally constant inclinations and preferences of an individual across health care settings. Recognizing a patient’s personality helps develop a rapport with them and create a therapy strategy.
A nurse must also exercise self-perception in order to observe their attitude and conduct toward patients (Cherry, 2022). When speaking with a patient, approaches such as employing reasoning or emotion might be beneficial. Personality type influences health and well-being, and some illnesses are more likely to be impacted by psychological features. For instance, Cherry (2022) posits that heart disease is more closely associated with personality type than arthritis.
This, according to the author, is due to the fact that personality influences behavior and lifestyle choices. Conscientious individuals are more likely to make better choices, whereas neurotic people are less likely to seek medical care or have poorer social support networks.
Steps to Adjustment to Illness and how the Patient Copes with Each Step
Patients may go through five phases of adjustment to a major illness: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These phases were first used by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her seminal book, ‘On Death and Dying,’ to explain the process of accepting a terminal illness; however, they have subsequently proven appropriate to patients with chronic diseases or whose recovery is conceivable but unclear (Corr, 2020).
Denial may manifest itself in a variety of ways. Someone may simply refuse to accept his diagnosis or participate in activities that physically strain his body past its new limits. Another coping strategy in denial is intellectualizing one’s thoughts regarding the situation to remove oneself from them (Corr, 2022).
Denial, in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophic diagnosis, might give patients time to prepare for the truth without getting overwhelmed. However, denial can outgrow its usefulness, barring people from coping with their feelings and cooperating in treatment.
Patients’ anger might be difficult to convey, especially when no one is to blame. When violent anger is allowed to overrun and govern everyday life, it can drive away close friends and family members who are needed more than ever for assistance during times of illness. It can also lead to passive resistance to potentially harmful treatments (Corr, 2020). When anger is channeled, however, its energy may be directed into productive activity.
During bargaining, the patient strives to eliminate uncertainty by rationalizing: coping methods include soothing words such as if I do this or that, I’ll be okay. Patients can “shop” for any medical therapy or a more agreeable diagnosis (Corr, 2022). Bargaining is frequently associated with a search for lost health and other features of their previous, disease-free existence. Bargaining, like rage, may lead to good action and active engagement in therapy, but unreasonable expectations can lead to disappointment.
Depression is a typical response to extreme stress. This is generally the point at which patients’ emotional shields are worn down, and they truly face the grief and agony of their situations. People suffering from depression may have sleeplessness, difficulty concentrating or experiencing pleasure, as well as emotions of hopelessness and fear.
There is a distinction between reactive depression, which is prevalent following a devastating medical diagnosis, and clinical depression (UPMC, 2022). Depression provides a much-needed vacation from being cheery, brave, and having everything under control.
According to Corr (2020), patients suffering from depression may typically overcome it by reflecting and expressing their thoughts, as well as adjusting their nutrition, and exercising as much as they can. Acceptance is also defined as “being done voluntarily or happily.” Healthy acceptance of a chronic condition, on the other hand, includes a measure of stubbornness or reluctance to give in (Corr, 2022). It’s a fine line between “containing” the sickness inside oneself and allowing it to “contain” or dominate one’s entire existence.
The Role of the Health Practitioner in Teaching Patients at Different Life Stages
People are extremely dependent on their parents during their formative years. As a result, parents should be provided accurate information on their child’s emotional and psychological development. Professionals may supply knowledge that can help prevent common ailments as individuals age (Lövdén et al., 2020). For instance, sex education is crucial for students in high schools to avoid new cases of STIs.
When a person matures, they require ways and tactics for maintaining their health and well-being. As people age, the health care professional must teach them the importance of a healthy diet and exercise to avoid health conditions like diabetes. It is also important for the aged to go for regular health checks and screening (Lövdén et al., 2020). Health providers should focus on giving transparent data and psychological assistance during the latter phases of life.
The Family’s Role in Patient Education
The family influences the patient’s views and attitudes toward health, lifestyle, and treatment. A patient’s primary support system or family can influence health and health care decisions. Family members frequently assist patients in making difficult health-care decisions (Withidpanyawong et al., 2019).
Family members may also have an impact on how well patients follow instructions. Family members have essential roles in patient care, including decision-making, supporting the healthcare team in administering treatment, improving patient safety, helping in-home care, and meeting the patient’s family’s and society’s goals.
How the Patient’s Family Influences Compliance
The family impacts health behavior through interactions and reactions, prior experiences and attitudes, and the family’s link to the community in which its members reside. The health care provider must discover who the patient turns to in the family for support (Withidpanyawong et al., 2019).
By measuring and watching family relationships, the health care professional may include the appropriate support persons in the patient’s treatment plan, resulting in a more optimum outcome. Health care providers will be more effective in their patient treatment.
References
Albus, C., Waller, C., Fritzsche, K., Gunold, H., Haass, M., Hamann, B., Kindermann, I., Köllner, V., Leithäuser, B., Marx, N., Meesmann, M., Michal, M., Ronel, J., Scherer, M., Schrader, V., Schwaab, B., Weber, C. S., & Herrmann-Lingen, C. (2019). Significance of psychosocial factors in cardiology: update 2018 : Position paper of the German Cardiac Society: Position paper of the German Cardiac Society. Clinical Research in Cardiology: Official Journal of the German Cardiac Society, 108(11), 1175–1196. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00392-019-01488-w
Cherry, K. (2022). Psychosocial factors and patient education. The Nursing Ace. https://thenursingace.com/samples/psychosocial-factors-and-patient-education/
Corr, C. A. (2020). Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the “five stages” model in a sampling of recent American textbooks. Omega, 82(2), 294–322. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222818809766
Corr, C. A. (2022). Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the five stages model in selected social work textbooks. Illness, Crises, and Loss, 30(2), 320–332. https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137320932302
Health Knowledge. (2022). Section 9: Explanations for various social patterns and experiences of illness including: differences of gender, ethnicity, employment status, age and social stratification. Org.Uk. https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/medical-sociology-policy-economics/4a-concepts-health-illness/section6
Isaksson, M., Ghaderi, A., Wolf-Arehult, M., & Ramklint, M. (2021). Overcontrolled, undercontrolled, and resilient personality styles among patients with eating disorders. Journal of Eating Disorders, 9(1), 47. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-021-00400-0
Lövdén, M., Fratiglioni, L., Glymour, M. M., Lindenberger, U., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2020). Education and cognitive functioning across the life span. Psychological Science in the Public Interest: A Journal of the American Psychological Society, 21(1), 6–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100620920576
Thomas, K., Nilsson, E., Festin, K., Henriksson, P., Lowén, M., Löf, M., & Kristenson, M. (2020). Associations of psychosocial factors with multiple health behaviors: A population-based study of middle-aged men and women. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(4), 1239. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17041239
UPMC. (2022). Coping with an Intestinal Transplant. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. https://www.chp.edu/our-services/transplant/intestine/recovery/coping/types
Withidpanyawong, U., Lerkiatbundit, S., & Saengcharoen, W. (2019). Family-based intervention by pharmacists for type 2 diabetes: a randomised controlled trial. Patient Education and Counseling, 102(1), 85–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2018.08.015
Psychosocial Factors in Patient Education Personality Styles and Steps in Adjustment to an Illness Instructions
Write a short (50-100-word) paragraph response for each question. This assignment is to be submitted as a Microsoft Word document.
Give examples of psychosocial factors that affect the health care professional and the effect those factors could have on patient education.
Give examples of psychosocial factors that affect the patient and the effect those factors could have on patient education.
Explain what is meant by personality styles and give examples of approaches that could be used to help the patient. Include self-perception as a factor.
List the steps in adjustment to illness and how the patient copes with each step.
Explain the health professional\'s role in teaching the patient at different life stages.
Define the role of the family in patient education.
How might the family influence the compliance of the patient and what measures can the health care professional use in communication with the family?