Use of Psychosocial Theories in Nursing

From the case, a 65-year old woman is experiencing social distress. Another point to note is that the level of distress differs within an individual. This means that a 65-year old women and 25 years old or 45 years old have a different level of distress. In general, all women experience distress and all need effective strategies for screening adherence (Ahmadian & Samah, 2013). The concept that could be used in planning for the old women's care is health belief-model. The health behavior researchers has found that the health belief-model allows healthcare providers to employ a cultural perspective. This is because there are factors that might prevent the patient from seeking cancer assessment and treatment. Note that some patients lack knowledge, fear, lack of self-efficacy, and other factors (Ahmadian & Samah, 2013). However, the health belief model will help in gathering information, and evaluate the health issue and its consequences. In general, the health belief-model will help the health care provider   understand the severity of the disease, the susceptibility of the lines, the preventive action, and barriers to implementing the actions (Ahmadian & Samah, 2013). The health belief model will help the patient understand the perceived benefits. This means that the clinician will encourage the patient to go for screening.  The patient is experiencing external and psychological barriers but the health belief model will understand the benefits of screening.

 If the women were 25 years old or 45 years old, the social-cognitive theory could work best. The social cognitive theory improves self-efficacy and in the end, the patient will gain the confidence to perform cancer assessment. The difference between a 65-year-old woman and 25 old year women is that the former may lack knowledge while the latter may have the knowledge but have low self-efficacy. Therefore, the social cognitive theory will influence the patient's experience and the health care provider will activate behavioral change (Ahmadian & Samah, 2013). The goal of social cognitive there is to increase independence and help the patient develop healthy behaviors.

  Health care providers have been using social psychology theories such as the protective motivation theory to encourage women to attend cancer screening. The protective motivation theory ensures that women have better knowledge (Darvishpour et al. 2018). This is also a strategy to enhance adherence by informing women and ensuring that they gain a high level of health literacy. It is believed that women fear breast cancer screening due to illiteracy

 In my clinical practice area, social psychological theories have been used to treat psychopathology. The research in the field of health care has found that social and situational factors play a role in the development of clinical problems. Thus, social psychological problems could help understand the emotional problems, maladaptive behaviors, and improve therapeutic effectiveness (Darvishpour et al. 2018). For example, cognitive-behavioral therapy is used to treat psychological problems such as anxiety and depression. Social psychological theories help health care providers in understanding human behavior and employ the best cognitive approach.    Some of the social psychological theories that have been used in clinical practice are self-affirmation theory. The theory helps individuals gain self-worth and self-affirmation. Another theory of self-categorization theory which states that individuals have self-concepts or they use different perception in understanding the problem (Darvishpour et al. 2018). They help individuals improve personality self-ratings and develop self-concept. In general, the integration of social psychological theories has been associated with effectiveness through helping the care providers in making clinical decisions. Another point is that the theories have been associated with positive health behavior change.

 

Reference

 

Ahmadian, M., & Samah, A. A. (2013). Application of health behavior theories to breast cancer

screening among Asian women. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 14(7), 4005-13.

 

Darvishpour, A., Vajari, S. M., & Noroozi, S. (2018). Can health belief model predict breast

cancer screening behaviors?. Open access Macedonian journal of medical sciences, 6(5),

949.