Analysis of The Multifactorial Model - Essay Example

The Multifactorial Health Model The Multifactorial Model The Multifactorial Model is a new health model that presents different factors which can explain why certain illnesses. For many decades, the widespread belief that most people have is that one single factor cause a disease. For example, a cardiovascular disease like coronary heart disease was believed to have been caused mainly by biological factors. So if the incidence of heart disease runs high in the family, younger family members would soon expect to acquire the disease. This often leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy because the family members would assume that there is nothing they can do about the disease and allow it to happen. On the other hand, the Multifactorial model shows a different way at examining how a disease develops. According to the Multifactorial model, the following factors must be taken into account when analyzing how a disease develops: biological, psychological, environmental, and socio-cultural and stressors. Likewise, the model asserts that no single factor is responsible for the development of a disease according to Hoover. In most diseases, biological factors such as heredity, age and gender can increase the probability of contracting heart diseases. There are certain groups of people prone to heart disease but this doesn’t mean that individuals in this group cannot avert the situation. The model presents other possible elements such as diet, stressors, or even access to health care that can prevent or increase the likelihood of the disease. The aforementioned elements may belong to any of the other factors which are not biological at all. Using the Multifactorial Model, a person that has a family history of diabetes can prevent developing the disease by making modifications in one’s lifestyle. The person can become health conscious being aware of such fact and resort to exercise and limited dietary intake. Thus, the person does not develop the disease as compared to his parents or grandparents. Biological factors include family history, age, gender, pain and discomfort, congenital disabilities definitely influence the likelihood of a disease but that does not equate to hopelessness since prevention is still possible using other factors. Socio-cultural is another important factor that can worsen or prevent the development of a disease. If a person has quality access to health care, works in a company that promotes health and belongs to an average sized family, then it can said that sociocultutal factors can help the person develop diseases. Even religious beliefs related to health such as not smoking and no drinking can be very helpful. Even if heart diseases are common in the family, the person can probably live longer. The Multifactorial model also considers psychological factors such as anxiety, depression, personality traits, self-efficacy, optimism or pessimism, attributional style, behavior, and other intrinsic factors within the individual. Lately, the field of medicine has accepted the fact as proven by various studies that psychological factors like stress definitely worsen biological factors. Even people with no history of heart disease within the family can possibly die from a heart attack if the person is constantly subjected to stress, had a sedentary lifestyle and possess a Type A personality. Even simple conditions such as ulcers and constipation can be caused by stress. Environmental factors such as pollution, natural disasters, radiation, global warming, ozone depletion, water quality and many more adversely affect a person’s health. Even healthy individuals with jobs exposed to harsh environmental conditions can develop illnesses such as respiratory disease complications especially if they don’t have good access to healthcare. Primarily, this is the reason why government Agencies set occupational health standards and safety practices so workers would not get sick. In conclusion, the Multifactorial Model is a new health model that shows how illnesses can develop through interplay of many factors. The various factors can work positively or negatively on a person’s health. Because of this, the model presents hope to individuals as well as medical professionals since various interventions can be made to delay or even inhibit the progress of a disease. Psychology has a lot to offer in terms of helping people prevent a disease by helping them to minimize stress in their lives. Reduced stress could prevent the development of certain illnesses. Millions of people die from a heart attack very year as caused by different cardiovascular diseases. In fact, it is one of the top killers in western countries like Australia and the United States. Doctors often prescribe medicines that are costly for the patients; more so, surgical intervention such as angioplasty or heart bypass would eventually be ultimate solution. Aside from biological factors like family history, people also neglect exercise and consume fatty diet leading to heart diseases. In the past few years, western medicine has accepted the fact that psychological factors are equally important to other factors because stress greatly contributes to the likelihood of such diseases. People who lead busy lives, have Type A personalities and have pessimist attitudes badly react to stressors. In a study, Talbott and Kraemer ( 2007 ) explained that people who are subjected to stress succumb to moderate depression which makes the brain adjusted to having high levels of cortisol. Once the stressor is relieved, the brain cannot perform effectively. The authors also cited the case of people who have been given high-cortisol drugs result develop “ memory problems and depression “ ( Talbott , Kraemer 2004). Depression further complicates the treatment process for any disease. Some would result to alcohol or drug abuse to relieve the stress aggravating the situation. In the case of heart diseases, psychology plays an important role in helping humanity lessen the incidence of such deadly diseases. Psychology can offer solutions to people through counseling so their chances of coping with stressful events in their lives can increase. Stress management techniques can be taught to people who encounter highly stressful situations in their jobs on a daily basis. In fact, some top hospitals already offer Complementary Alternative Medicine such as yoga or other meditation techniques that can supplement the medications taken by people with heart diseases (Kabatt-Zinn, Massion, et.al, 1992) So far, studies made on this area reveal very positive results as meditation calms a person and can reduce anxiety. There are even studies showing that a person’s religious belief can significantly improve their health condition because the people change their perspectives towards life. In the same manner, cancer happens because cells and DNA get damaged due to stress. Once cancer spreads to other parts of the body, the person can die within a period of time. Indeed, psychology is very valuable since once it can be explained how people and why people respond to things and determine their over-all behavior. Without psychology, humans would just hard time coping with the challenges brought by life. References Kabat-Zinn, J., Massion, A., Kristeller, J., Peterson, L. G., Fletcher, J., Pbert, L., et al. (1992). Effectiveness of Meditation Based Stress Reduction Program. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 936-943. Retrieved February 4, 2011, from http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/cp4/client_edit/topic4/sg3b-1.pdf Talbott,Shawn, Kraemer William J. ( 2007 ) The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health - And What You Can Do About It. Hunter House, 2007. Retrieved 4 Feb 2011 from http://books.google.com.ph/ books?id =D8VE11Zcp 74C&pg =PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=cortisol+and +neurotransmitters &source =bl&ots=YrpvGx30_V&sig= lsmZbyYWz5fK GjwTkvMwI9c9fnI&hl=en&ei=WU4eSs6xGIyCkQXl6bWHDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9. Read More