Public Health and COVID-19 Perceptions

Illness Representation and COVID-19

• A brief illness perception questionnaire (Brief-IPQ) assessed participants' perceptions of COVID-19.
• The questionnaire measured perceived impact on life, duration, controllability, treatment effectiveness, symptom severity, concern level, understanding, and emotional impact (each rated 0-10).

Public Health Training

• The Association of Schools of Public Health highlights five key competencies: biostatistics, social and behavioral science, environmental health, epidemiology, and health policy and management.
• Social and behavioral science is emphasized as broadening the public health worker's perspective and differentiating them from clinicians.

Course Learning Objectives

• Understand the definitions and social constructions of health.
• Understand major behavioral change theories and their application in health behavior change strategies.
• Understand key concepts in planning and evaluating health promotion.

Course Content

• Concepts of the social construction of health.
• Major behavioral change theories (individual, interpersonal, community levels).
• Essential concepts in health promotion (need assessment, communication channels/methods, evaluation).

Social Construction of Mental Illness

• People appraise early mental disorder signs and decide on actions before professional help (Hollingshead & Redlick, 1958; Link et al., 1999).
• Few seek medical consultations for mental health symptoms (Plaut, 2003).
• Self-diagnosis and diagnosis by others are common (a Hong Kong study showed 9.2% believed they had undiagnosed mental illness, and 2.8% were suggested to have it by family). Family members and doctors are consulted frequently.

Medicalization of Health and Illness

• Illness presence isn't solely determined by scientific methods.
• Health isn't simply the absence of disease.
• Diseased individuals may not feel ill; conversely, those feeling ill may not have diseases.
• Medicalization of emotions (e.g., worry, shyness) is discussed (Conrad, 2005).

Example: Medicalization of Social Anxiety Disorder

• Paxil's marketing redefined social anxiety disorder as common (reducing stigma) and treatable medically (Conrad, 2005).
• Sophisticated marketing campaigns created a perception that social anxiety disorder could affect anyone (Koerner, 2002).

WHO Social Determinants of Health

• Ten key determinants are identified: social gradient, stress, early life, social exclusion, work, unemployment, social support, addiction, food, and transport.
• The social gradient shows shorter life expectancy and higher disease prevalence down the social ladder; risk of serious illness and premature death is at least doubled among lower social status individuals.
• Stressful circumstances negatively impact health and can lead to premature death.
• Early life experiences significantly influence lifelong health (e.g., slow growth and poor emotional support increase risks of poor health in adulthood).

This quiz focuses on understanding the perceptions of COVID-19 through the lens of public health. It examines the impact of illness perception and the competencies required in public health training, including health behavior change theories and evaluation strategies. Test your knowledge on the crucial elements that shape health perspectives in the context of a global pandemic.