Cargando…

Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners

BACKGROUND: The process of initiating and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours is complex, includes a number of distinct phases and is not static. Theoretical models of behaviour change consider psychological constructs such as intention and self efficacy but do not clearly consider the role of...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: McKenzie, Suzanne H, Harris, Mark F
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3817353/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24175998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-14-166
_version_ 1782478062148911104
author McKenzie, Suzanne H
Harris, Mark F
author_facet McKenzie, Suzanne H
Harris, Mark F
author_sort McKenzie, Suzanne H
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The process of initiating and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours is complex, includes a number of distinct phases and is not static. Theoretical models of behaviour change consider psychological constructs such as intention and self efficacy but do not clearly consider the role of stress or psychological distress. General practice based interventions addressing lifestyle behaviours have been demonstrated to be feasible and effective however it is not clear whether general practitioners (GPs) take psychological health into consideration when discussing lifestyle behaviours. This qualitative study explores GPs’ and patients’ perspectives about the relationship between external stressors, psychological distress and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours. METHODS: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 16 patients and 5 GPs. Transcripts from the interviews were thematically analysed and a conceptual model developed to explain the relationship between external stressors, psychological distress and healthly lifestyle behaviours. RESULTS: Participants were motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle however they described a range of external factors that impacted on behaviour in both positive and negative ways, either directly or via their impact on psychological distress. The impact of external factors was moderated by coping strategies, beliefs, habits and social support. In some cases the process of changing or maintaining healthy behaviour also caused distress. The concept of a threshold level of distress was evident in the data with patients and GPs describing a certain level of distress required before it negatively influenced behaviour. CONCLUSION: Maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours is complex and constantly under challenge from external stressors. Practitioners can assist patients with maintaining healthy behaviour by providing targeted support to moderate the impact of external stressors.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3817353
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-38173532013-11-06 Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners McKenzie, Suzanne H Harris, Mark F BMC Fam Pract Research Article BACKGROUND: The process of initiating and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours is complex, includes a number of distinct phases and is not static. Theoretical models of behaviour change consider psychological constructs such as intention and self efficacy but do not clearly consider the role of stress or psychological distress. General practice based interventions addressing lifestyle behaviours have been demonstrated to be feasible and effective however it is not clear whether general practitioners (GPs) take psychological health into consideration when discussing lifestyle behaviours. This qualitative study explores GPs’ and patients’ perspectives about the relationship between external stressors, psychological distress and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours. METHODS: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 16 patients and 5 GPs. Transcripts from the interviews were thematically analysed and a conceptual model developed to explain the relationship between external stressors, psychological distress and healthly lifestyle behaviours. RESULTS: Participants were motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle however they described a range of external factors that impacted on behaviour in both positive and negative ways, either directly or via their impact on psychological distress. The impact of external factors was moderated by coping strategies, beliefs, habits and social support. In some cases the process of changing or maintaining healthy behaviour also caused distress. The concept of a threshold level of distress was evident in the data with patients and GPs describing a certain level of distress required before it negatively influenced behaviour. CONCLUSION: Maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours is complex and constantly under challenge from external stressors. Practitioners can assist patients with maintaining healthy behaviour by providing targeted support to moderate the impact of external stressors. BioMed Central 2013-11-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3817353/ /pubmed/24175998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-14-166 Text en Copyright © 2013 McKenzie and Harris; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
McKenzie, Suzanne H
Harris, Mark F
Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners
title Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners
title_full Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners
title_fullStr Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners
title_short Understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners
title_sort understanding the relationship between stress, distress and healthy lifestyle behaviour: a qualitative study of patients and general practitioners
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3817353/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24175998
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2296-14-166
work_keys_str_mv AT mckenziesuzanneh understandingtherelationshipbetweenstressdistressandhealthylifestylebehaviouraqualitativestudyofpatientsandgeneralpractitioners
AT harrismarkf understandingtherelationshipbetweenstressdistressandhealthylifestylebehaviouraqualitativestudyofpatientsandgeneralpractitioners