Week 21: Adherence, Health Cognition and Behaviour Change Models

The term ‘health cognition’ led on from last week’s topic on patient’s perception of their own health and how this affected their motivation to seek medical advice. Having spoken to our patients, I felt the three models of health cognition can be readily mapped into the patients’ life experience. All models have their limitations in measuring human behaviour because it is indeed very complex. However these models help us as healthcare professionals and patients to come to a common ground to reinforce and reward behaviours that are a result of all human beings with the ability to process information logically. Patients should be encouraged to reflect upon their behaviour to cope with their conditions during a consultation with a healthcare professional.  

I really enjoyed speaking to expert patients face-to-face in the workshop and it was a truly humbling experience. The atmosphere was relaxed and I felt this was beneficial to my future practice to gain experience in speaking to patients in a professional yet caring manner. We explored the meaning of adherence to patients and the continuing principle throughout from first week was the compassion we have as healthcare professionals for our patients. The ability of ‘step into someone else’s shoes’ i.e. empathy should be second nature for all healthcare professionals, as patients are likely to be vulnerable physically and psychologically in the time of illness.