Psychology and Health past exam questions.   

Note that you complete one question from section A and one question from section B.  You will always have a choice of two questions from each section.

The exam lasts one and a half hours.  The section A question is worth 16 marks and the section B question is worth 34 marks.  You should therefore aim to spend half an hour on the section A question and an hour on the section B question. 

January 2002 Paper

Section A

1 (a) What do psychologists understand by the term ‘accident proneness’? [6]

(b) Compare and contrast personality explanations of accidents with other psychological explanations. [10]

2     (a) Outline one technique used by psychologists to control pain. [6]

(b) Evaluate the ethics of carrying out a study to measure the effectiveness of a psychological technique to control pain. [10]

Section B

3 (a) Describe some psychological evidence about patient-practitioner relationships. [10]

(b) Evaluate this evidence. [16]

(c)  Based on the above evidence, suggest one way that health workers can improve the attendance of men at heart check-up clinics.  Give reasons for your answer. [8]

4       (a) Describe some psychological evidence that is relevant to our understanding of the sources and causes of stress. [10]

(b) Evaluate this evidence. [16]

(c) Based on the above evidence, suggest a psychological programme to reduce the stress of A’  Level examinations.  Give reasons for your answer.

June 2002 Paper

Section A

1 (a) Outline one example of promoting health in either schools or worksites. [6]

(b) Evaluate the ethics of promoting health. [10]

2  (a) Outline one cultural or one gender difference in health behaviour. [6]

(b) Discuss the difficulties of studying cultural differences or gender differences in health behaviour. [10]

        Section B

3 (a) Outline psychological evidence on why people do not always adhere to medical advice. [10]

(b) Evaluate the problems of investigating medical adherence. [16]

(c) Suggest one intervention that can be used to encourage people with diabetes to carry out regular blood tests to monitor their health.  Give reasons for your answer. [8]

4 (a) Outline psychological evidence that relates to the use and abuse of one substance. [10]

(b) Evaluate evidence on the use and abuse of one substance. [16]

(c) Suggest one technique to minimise the harm of using this substance.  Give reasons for your answer. [8]

January 2003 Paper

Section A

1 (a) Outline one model of health beliefs. [6]

(b) Discuss the problems of attempting to measure a person's health beliefs. [10]

2  (a) Outline one study about the relationship between the patient and the health practitioner. [6]

(b) Discuss the difficulties in carrying out valid studies on the relationship between the patient and the practitioner. [10]

    Section B

3 (a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about pain. [10]

(b) Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about pain. [16]

(c) Based one psychological evidence, suggest one technique to control chronic (severe and long term) pain in children.  Give reasons for your answer. [8]

 
4 (a) Describe how psychologists have defined and explained substance abuse. [10]

(b) Evaluate psychological explanations of substance abuse. [16]

(c) An island of people who have never seen a cigarette has been discovered.  Suggest one technique that will help to prevent them from starting to smoke cigarettes.  Give reasons  for your answer. [8]

June 2003 Paper

Section A

1 (a) Outline one study of patient adherence to medical advice. [6]

(b) Discuss the difficulties in carrying out studies into patient adherence. [10]

2  (a) Outline one technique used to manage stress. [6]

(b) Evaluate the difficulties in measuring the effectiveness of stress management programmes. [10]

Section B

3 (a) Outline methods used by psychologists in health promotion. [10]

(b) Evaluate the difficulties of trying to promote good health using one specific health problem as an example. [16]

(c) Suggest one technique for encouraging workers to eat fewer chips. Give reasons for your answer. [8]

4 (a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about accidents. [10]

(b) Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about accidents. [16]

(c) Suggest one technique to reduce accidents cause by fireworks.  Give reasons for your answer. [8]

 January 2004 Paper

Section A

1(a) Outline one example of promoting health in either communities or worksites. [6]

(b) Evaluate the effectiveness of promoting health in communities or worksites. [10]

 
2 (a) Outline one technique used to measure stress. [6]

(b) Evaluate the difficulties in measuring stress. [10]

   
    Section B

3 (a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about measuring and managing pain. [10]

(b) Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about measuring and managing pain. [16]

(c) Some people have a lower threshold for pain than others.  Suggest one way that psychologists could measure whether individuals have a higher than average pain threshold. [8]

 
4 (a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about health and safety. [10]

 (b) Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about health and safety. [16]

(c) Imagine that there has been a number of accidents in a school science laboratory.  Suggest how you could promote safe behaviour in the laboratory.  Using your knowledge of psychology, give reasons for your answer. [8]

 June 2004  Paper

    Section A

1 (a) Outline one way in which adherence to medical advice has been improved.  [6]

(b) Discuss why it is difficult to get people to improve their health behaviours. [10]

2 (a) Outline one technique that has been used to help people stop substance abuse. [6]

(b) Discuss why the techniques use to help people stop substance abuse are not very successful.  [10]

     Section B

3 (a) Describe psychological evidence on the importance of practitioner behaviour in their interactions with patients. [10]

(b) Evaluate psychological evidence on the importance of practitioner behaviour in their interactions with patients.  [16]

(c)  Identify one example of how some patients misuse health services, and suggest how practitioners could change their own behaviour to deal with this.  Using your knowledge of psychology, give reasons for your answer.  [8]

4 (a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about lifestyle and health.  [10]

(b)  Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about lifestyle and health.  [16]

(c) Identify one cultural or gender difference affecting the health of a community and suggest how a community health centre might deal with this.   Using your knowledge of psychology, give reasons for your answer.  [8]

January 2005  Paper

Section A

1 (a) Outline one lifestyle characteristic that influences health behaviour. [6]

(b) Evaluate how much lifestyle affects a person's health.  [10]

2 (a) Outline one study that shows how accidents can be reduced.  [6]

(b) Discuss the difficulties in reducing accidents and promoting safety behaviour. [10]

Section B

3 (a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about measuring and improving adherence to medical requests. [10]

(b) Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about measuring and improving adherence to medical requests. [16]

(c) A surgery finds that parents are not bringing their babies for immunisation.  Suggest how health workers can encourage parents to follow medical advice and have their babies immunised.  Give reasons for your answer. [8]

4 (a) Describe what psychologists have found out about why people use and abuse substances.  [10]

(b) Evaluate what psychologists have found out about why people use and abuse substances. [16]

(c) A celebrity footballer has a serious alcohol problem and despite several attempts to stop he is commonly found drinking.  Suggest one technique that will help him reduce his drinking.  Explain why you think this technique could be successful. [8]

June 2005 Paper

Section A

1 (a) Outline one study on how practitioners interact with their patients.  [6]

(b) Discuss the problems patients have when they communicate with health workers.  [10]
 

2 (a) Outline one technique used to control or manage pain.   [6]

(b) Evaluate how psychologists measure the effectiveness of pain management programmes.  [10]

Section B

3 (a) Describe attempts to promote good health.   [10]

(b) Evaluate attempts to promote good health.  [16]

(c) A small town in the north of England has a high incidence of obesity.  Suggest one psychological technique to promote better health in the town.  Explain why you think the technique will be successful.   [8]

4 (a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about the causes and measurement of stress.  [10]

(b) Evaluate what psychologists have discovered about the causes and measurement of stress.   [16]

(c) Suggest one technique to reduce the stress of going to the dentist.  Give psychological reasons for your answer.   [8]

January 2006 Paper

Section A

1. a) Outline one campaign to improve health in the general public. [6]

b) Discuss why many health promotion campaigns have only limited success. [10]

2. a) Outline one explanation of why a person abuses a substance. [6]

b) Discuss the difficulties in explaining why a person abuses a substance. [10]

Section B

3. a) Describe what psychologists have discovered about the relationships between patients and their practitioners. [10]

b) Evaluate why psychologists have discovered about the relationships between patients and their practitioners. [16]

c) one doctor in a group practice finds that elderly patients prefer to go to her colleagues rather than make an appointment to see her. Suggest how she might change her behaviour to encourage more elderly patients to make appointment with her. Using your knowledge of psychology, give reasons for your answer. [8]

4. a) Describe what psychologists have found out about lifestyle and health behaviour [10]

b) Evaluate what psychologists gave found out about lifestyle and health behaviour [16]

c) A local community appears to have an unhealthy diet. They eat food with a high fat, sugar and salt content. Using your knowledge of psychology, write a brief report for the local health authority that explains why people choose this diet. [8]

June 2006 Paper

Section A

1. a) Outline one way of managing stress [6]

b) Evaluate the success of techniques to manage stress [10]

2. a) Outline one way that personality is associated with accidents [6]

b) Discuss why it is difficult to study the causes of accidents [10]

Section B

3. a) Describe what psychologists have found about pain [10]

b) Evaluate what psychologists have found about pain [16]

c) A close personal friend has tooth ache but is unable to take pain killers for medical reasons. You are snowed in with them in a holiday cottage in a remote village and can’t get out until the weather changes. Use your knowledge of psychology to suggest how they might deal with the pain for a few days until they can see a dentist. Give reasons for your answer. [8]

4. a) Describe what psychologist have found out about people’s reluctance to follow medical advice. [10]

b) Evaluate what psychologists have found about people’s reluctance to follow medical advice. [16]

c) Older people are advised to get a flu vaccination very year but many do not turn up to receive it. Using your knowledge of psychology, suggest how you would improve vaccination rates in older people. Give reasons for your answer. [8]