Grace Peters Biopsychosocial Model

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Health Psychology Case Report: Grace Peters
Engel’s biopsychosocial model attempts to explain illness through the interaction between biological, psychological, and social factors. Differing from the traditional biomedical model in that it focuses on patient-centred care rather than the biological condition, this model has improved the approach to preventative medicine. This paper will provide a biopsychosocial analysis of the case of Grace Peters, and discuss the relevant psychological issues with regards to the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the social cognitive theory (SCT), and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Conforming to the biomedical model, the traditional approach to disease in medicine was organ-oriented; a perspective that significantly …show more content…

Psychological factors include financial stress, being her family’s primary provider, thinking that paying bills is more important than her health, not appreciating the need for change, and having little expectations that anything she does will result in weight loss because she is “just like” her overweight Mother. Social issues include being in the lower socioeconomic bracket, having an unemployed husband, her job status (i.e. cleaner), and long working hours that limit social interaction. Consistent with the biopsychosocial model, the interplay between these factors can have outstanding effects on Grace’s well-being. For example, the interaction between her psychological factors and having a family history of being overweight is likely to negatively impact her attitudes towards any prescribed intervention that she is given for her issues. This can be portrayed by her aversion to change, and unvarying weight despite encouragement from her doctor to eat healthier and exercise regularly. Similarly, the interplay between her psychological and social factors suggest that she may lose the support that she requires in her relationships to effectively cope with her circumstances. Without these, Grace may not be motivated to or be proactive in producing the changes needed to improve her health, and will continue to follow a …show more content…

Self-efficacy greatly influences the activities that people choose, the goals that they set, and the effort and persistence that they will have in performing a behaviour. When an individual possesses high self-efficacy, they tend to set higher goals, exert more effort in the activities in which they engage, and are more persistent when challenges are presented, despite having the same initial abilities to someone with low self-efficacy (Ormrod, 2016). It is evident that Grace has low self-efficacy because she does not believe that anything she does will result in weight loss. Consequently, she is likely to set lower goals, exert minimal efforts into losing weight, and give up more easily because she foresees

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