Reflective Questions

Chapter 1 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Is there an area of physical health that would make you want to pursue a career in health psychology? Would you prefer to work with children, teenagers, adults or the elderly and why?
2. Do you think decolonising health psychology is important, if so, why?
3. Do you think overlapping identities like ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status can affect someone’s healthcare experiences? Can you give an example?
Chapter 2 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. How have ideas about the causes of illness changed over time, and why does this matter in health psychology?
2. In what ways might Western medicine’s focus on science and individual treatment overlook the cultural and community-based approaches to health found in Indigenous healthcare practices?
3. What should health psychologist do to ensure that their care respects beliefs about health across different cultures?
Chapter 3 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Why are some quantitative research methods viewed as superior to others?
2. How useful is epidemiological evidence in health psychology
3. What factors would you consider when choosing a questionnaire?
4. Of what benefit are systematic reviews in health psychology?
5. What evidence would you look for within a paper to determine if the findings from a qualitative study were trustworthy
6. What makes yarning different from a regular interview?
Chapter 4 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Explain how the body responses physiologically to stress.
2. Do you think that pharmacological drugs on their own can control obesity?
3. Consider lifestyle factors that are associated with the development and progression of chronic diseases, such as CVD, T2DM and obesity
Chapter 5 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Why might focusing only on physical symptoms not be enough to fully understand someone’s illness?
2. How do social determinants of health impact on disease?
3. How do Western and Indigenous conceptions of health and disease differ
Chapter 6 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Outline what is meant by adherence and explain factors that may influence adherence across different population groups.
2. What is health literacy and why is it important for adherence?
3. How can culture affect whether people attend medical appointments?
Chapter 7 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Have you ever planned to change something (like diet or exercise) but did not follow through? What do you think stopped you and how could you use a psychological theory or model to explain this?
2. Why might health locus of control be an important concept to consider when trying to help an individual to change their health behaviours?
3. How do Indigenous models like the Medicine Wheel or Two-Eyed Seeing give us a different way to think about health?
4. Why is it important to include patients and the public views when conducting health research or designing interventions?
Chapter 8 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. How does the way that you think about stress affect how you deal with it?
2. What types of stressors do people from different cultural, ethnic, sexual or gender minority groups experience?
3. How might long-term exposure to microaggressions or chronic stressors impact on unhealthy coping behaviours and physical health over time?
Chapter 9 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Consider how social determinants such as ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, or disability may influence the prevalence and health outcomes in one chronic disease of your choosing.
2. How might ethnicity, gender, disability, or LGBTQI+ status affect an individual’s access to cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment
3. How might BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio differ in accurately assessing health risks for diverse populations?
4. How do obesogenic environments and hedonic eating influence individual and population-level obesity?
5. Why might T2DM prevalence and outcomes differ across ethnic groups, Indigenous populations, LGBTQI+ communities, and in people with disabilities?
Chapter 10 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Outline the differences between acute and chronic pain, how might chronic pain affect an individual’s daily life?
2. How do factors such as gender and ethnicity influence an individual’s experience or expression of pain?
3. How have various models of pain influenced our understanding of the multidimensional nature of pain?
Chapter 11 – Reflective Questions
These questions are designed to prompt deeper thinking about the ideas and themes presented in this chapter.
1. Why is it important to understand a person’s culture, background, or identity (such as being LGBTQI+ or Indigenous) when providing palliative care?
2. Of what benefit is an advanced decision to refused treatment (advanced directive)?
3. How has palliative care changed from its initial focus on pain relief and cancer?