LSP Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine 5

Question 1

A health psychologist is designing an intervention to reduce smoking in low-income communities. Which social determinant lens is most critical to address?

Accepted Answer

Structural factors including tobacco marketing targeting, stress from economic hardship, and limited cessation resources

Answer

Effective interventions in low-SES communities must address structural barriers—targeted advertising, chronic stress from poverty, and lack of access to cessation programs—not just individual motivation.

Question 2

Which psychological construct refers to the degree to which a person believes they can successfully perform a health behavior under challenging circumstances?

Accepted Answer

Self-efficacy

Answer

Self-efficacy (Bandura) is the domain-specific belief in one's capability to execute a required behavior, and is one of the strongest predictors of health behavior initiation and maintenance.

Question 3

Prolonged bereavement following the death of a spouse is most associated with which health consequence?

Accepted Answer

Increased mortality, particularly from cardiovascular disease, in the months following loss

Answer

The 'widowhood effect' documents elevated mortality risk—especially cardiovascular—in the months after spousal loss, driven by grief stress, behavioral changes, and loss of health-promoting social support.

Question 4

Which factor most distinguishes illness behavior from disease in behavioral medicine?

Accepted Answer

Illness behavior encompasses how individuals perceive, evaluate, and act on symptoms, independent of objective pathology

Answer

Mechanic's concept of illness behavior describes the socially and psychologically influenced process by which people interpret, respond to, and seek care for symptoms, which may or may not correspond to measurable pathology.

Question 5

A patient undergoing dialysis for end-stage renal disease reports feeling that life is meaningless and that they are a burden to their family. The health psychologist's first clinical priority should be:

Accepted Answer

Conducting a thorough suicide risk assessment given the elevated risk in this population

Answer

End-stage renal disease carries substantially elevated suicide risk; statements about meaninglessness and burdensomeness (Joiner's interpersonal theory) require immediate systematic risk assessment before other interventions.

(LSP) Licensed Specialist in Psychology Certification Practice Test

(LSP) Licensed Specialist in Psychology Certification Practice Test

LSP Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine 5