Attributions for health-related behaviours

Attributions for health-related behaviours 

 Although women who smoke are aware of all the health risks of smoking, they report that smoking is necessary to their well-being and an essential means for coping with stress.

Or they worry that they will gain weight  once they stop smoking.9 while  being Morbidly obese while smoking)

Attributions for health-related behaviours Attribution theory has been applied to the study of health and health-related behaviour. Herzlich (1973) interviewed 80 people about the general causes of health and illness and found that health is regarded as internal to the individual and illness is seen as something that comes into the body from the external world. More specifically, attributions about illness may be related to behaviours. For example, Bradley (1985) examined patients’ attributions for responsibility for their diabetes and reported that perceived control over illness (‘is the diabetes controllable by me or a powerful other?’) influenced the choice of treatment by these patients. Patients could either choose (1) an insulin pump (a small mechanical device attached to the skin, which provides a continuous flow of insulin); (2) intense conventional treatment; or (3) a continuation of daily injections. The results indicated that the patients who chose an insulin pump showed decreased control over their diabetes and increased control attributed to powerful doctors. Therefore, if an individual attributed their illness externally and felt that they personally were not responsible for it, they were more likely to choose the insulin pump and were more likely to hand over responsibility to the doctors. A further study by King (1982) examined the relationship between attributions for an illness and attendance at a screening clinic for hypertension. The results demonstrated that if the hypertension was seen as external but controllable by the individual then they were more likely to attend the screening clinic (‘I am not responsible for my hypertension but I can control it’).