Define psychoneuroimmunology. Explain how this field reflects the biopsychosocial rather than the biomedical model of health. Making explicit reference to the model of stress and disease developed in the text, suggest at least two ways that psychoneuroimmunologists could pay increased research attention to the social component of the biopsychosocial model of health.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The field of psychoneuroimmunology examines the complex interaction between psychological factors, such as stress, and the functioning of the immune system, as well as the nervous, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems. The discovery that stress can affect these systems is surprisingly recent--dating to 1974, about the same time that health psychology and the biopsychosocial model were developing.
Sociocultural factors may have an impact at many points in the model of stress and disease. Communities of color may experience environmental stressors such as environmental degradation and impoverished or violent neighborhoods, increasing the likelihood that life is appraised as stressful. Residential moves, incarceration, and job loss may also affect some communities more than others. The major life events are likely to cumulate and damage health. Following a negative emotional response to these environmental demands, communities of color and lower SES communities may be less able to avoid unhealthy behavioral decisions. Urban food deserts reduce the opportunity to eat healthy food and increase the risk of obesity, hypertension, and so on. Opportunities for exercise and recreation may be limited--parks may be unsafe, and gyms and recreation centers may be far away. “Struggling America” is often the target for those supplying addictive substances--whether legal, such as tobacco, or illegal. These factors enhance the likelihood that stress will lead to disease-related physiological changes.