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ABPP Clinical Health Psychology study materials
ABPP Clinical Health Psychology study resources

ABPP Clinical Health Psychology practice questions

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Question 1Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The biopsychosocial model differs from the traditional biomedical model primarily because it treats health and illness as the product of which set of interacting influences?

  1. Behavioral conditioning and reinforcement alone
  2. Environmental pathogens and immune response
  3. Biological, psychological, and social factors Correct answer.
  4. Genetic and neurological factors only

Explanation

The biopsychosocial model holds that health outcomes emerge from the interaction of biological, psychological, and social processes rather than from a single cause. The biomedical model, by contrast, emphasizes biological mechanisms alone.

Question 2Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

In Engel's formulation, a patient's chest pain that is worsened by occupational stress and reinforced by family attention is best conceptualized as involving which levels of analysis?

  1. Biological, psychological, and social levels Correct answer.
  2. Only the physiological level
  3. Only the social level
  4. Only the psychological level

Explanation

Engel's model directs clinicians to assess interacting biological, psychological, and social contributors simultaneously. Stress and family attention are psychological and social factors layered onto a biological symptom.

Question 3Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The concept of homeostasis in mind-body physiology refers to which of the following?

  1. The body's tendency to maintain internal stability through regulatory feedback Correct answer.
  2. The mind's capacity to suppress aversive emotions
  3. The body's inability to adapt to repeated stressors
  4. The gradual decline of physiological function with age

Explanation

Homeostasis describes the maintenance of internal stability through feedback loops that correct deviations from set points. It is a core construct underlying mind-body regulatory processes.

Question 4Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Allostasis differs from homeostasis in that allostasis emphasizes which feature?

  1. The absence of any physiological regulation
  2. Achieving stability through dynamic change in response to anticipated demands Correct answer.
  3. Regulation limited to the autonomic nervous system
  4. A fixed internal set point defended by feedback

Explanation

Allostasis describes stability achieved through change, with the brain anticipating needs and adjusting physiological set points accordingly. Homeostasis, by contrast, emphasizes defense of fixed set points.

Question 5Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Allostatic load is best described as which of the following?

  1. The total number of stressful life events a person reports
  2. The immediate fight-or-flight response to a single threat
  3. The resting heart rate measured during sleep
  4. The cumulative physiological wear resulting from chronic or repeated stress adaptation Correct answer.

Explanation

Allostatic load refers to the cumulative cost of repeated or prolonged activation of stress-mediating systems. It is measured through multisystem biomarkers rather than a single acute response.

Question 6Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responds to stress by ultimately stimulating release of which hormone from the adrenal cortex?

  1. Melatonin
  2. Cortisol Correct answer.
  3. Thyroxine
  4. Insulin

Explanation

HPA axis activation culminates in adrenal cortical release of cortisol, a glucocorticoid that mobilizes energy substrates. Cortisol also feeds back to inhibit further hypothalamic and pituitary activity.

Question 7Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Which structure serves as the primary rapid neural pathway by which the sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate during acute stress?

  1. Sympathetic efferents releasing norepinephrine at cardiac beta-adrenergic receptors Correct answer.
  2. Somatic motor neurons innervating the diaphragm
  3. Vagus nerve efferents to the sinoatrial node
  4. Parasympathetic efferents releasing acetylcholine at the atrioventricular node

Explanation

Sympathetic postganglionic fibers release norepinephrine onto cardiac beta-adrenergic receptors, producing rapid increases in heart rate and contractility. This is distinct from parasympathetic vagal control, which slows the heart.

Question 8Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Polyvagal theory, as proposed by Porges, associates the myelinated ventral vagal pathway with which capacity?

  1. Social engagement and calm behavioral states Correct answer.
  2. Immobilization and shutdown
  3. Adrenal medullary catecholamine release
  4. Sympathetic fight-or-flight mobilization

Explanation

Porges proposed that the myelinated ventral vagal complex supports social engagement and calm states. The theory positions dorsal vagal and sympathetic pathways as responses to threat.

Question 9Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

According to Lazarus's transactional model of stress, the primary appraisal process involves which judgment?

  1. Selecting an emotion-focused coping strategy
  2. Assessing physiological arousal after the event
  3. Evaluating whether available coping resources can meet the demand
  4. Evaluating whether an event is relevant and threatening to one's well-being Correct answer.

Explanation

Primary appraisal concerns whether an event is relevant and potentially harmful or threatening. Secondary appraisal then evaluates coping resources and options.

Question 10Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Selye's general adaptation syndrome describes the body's response to sustained stress across which sequence of stages?

  1. Sensitization, habituation, extinction
  2. Exposure, appraisal, coping
  3. Challenge, threat, recovery
  4. Alarm, resistance, exhaustion Correct answer.

Explanation

Selye described a nonspecific stress response progressing through alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. Prolonged resistance depletes resources and can lead to exhaustion-related illness.

Question 11Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The term psychoneuroimmunology refers to the study of which relationships?

  1. Interactions among psychological processes, the nervous system, and immune function Correct answer.
  2. The genetic basis of autoimmune disease alone
  3. The effect of antibiotics on mood
  4. The relationship between diet and endocrine function

Explanation

Psychoneuroimmunology examines bidirectional interactions among psychological states, neural and endocrine signaling, and immune function. It is a central scientific basis for mind-body relationships.

Question 12Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Research on stress and immune function generally finds that chronic psychological stress is associated with which pattern?

  1. No measurable change in immune markers
  2. Enhanced antibody response to novel vaccines
  3. Increased susceptibility to infectious illness and slowed wound healing Correct answer.
  4. Suppression of all inflammatory processes

Explanation

Chronic stress is associated with impaired immune responses, including poorer vaccine responses, greater infection susceptibility, and delayed wound healing. Some inflammatory markers may rise even as cellular immune function declines.

Question 13Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The placebo effect is best understood scientifically as which phenomenon?

  1. A purely imaginary improvement with no physiological basis
  2. A genuine psychobiological response to expectation and conditioning that can alter symptoms Correct answer.
  3. A deliberate deception that should always be avoided in care
  4. A statistical artifact with no clinical relevance

Explanation

Placebo responses involve measurable psychobiological changes driven by expectation, conditioning, and contextual factors. They can influence symptom experience and some physiological outcomes.

Question 14Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

A patient reports reduced pain after receiving an inert treatment, and the reduction is reversed by an opioid antagonist. This finding most directly supports which mechanism of placebo analgesia?

  1. Endogenous opioid release Correct answer.
  2. Peripheral nerve injury
  3. Reduced nociceptor density
  4. Placebo-induced tissue healing

Explanation

Reversal of placebo analgesia by opioid antagonists implicates endogenous opioid systems in the response. This demonstrates a physiological mechanism underlying expectancy effects.

Question 15Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The nocebo effect refers to which phenomenon?

  1. The reduction of side effects through blinding
  2. Improvement in symptoms following an active medication
  3. The onset of adverse symptoms following negative expectations or warnings Correct answer.
  4. The tendency to attribute symptoms to psychological causes

Explanation

Nocebo effects are adverse symptoms or worsened outcomes arising from negative expectations, such as warnings about side effects. They are the harmful counterpart to placebo responses.

Question 16Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Which finding from the stress literature best illustrates the concept of psychological stress producing measurable physiological change?

  1. Decreased cortisol after a relaxing vacation
  2. Stable heart rate during sleep across the night
  3. Increased salivary cortisol during a laboratory public-speaking task Correct answer.
  4. Elevated cortisol in Cushing's disease

Explanation

Laboratory stressors such as public speaking reliably raise salivary cortisol, showing a psychological challenge producing a measurable endocrine response. This demonstrates a mind-body pathway.

Question 17Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Health psychology's scientific base draws most directly on which combination of disciplines?

  1. Astronomy, geology, and physics
  2. Linguistics and anthropology alone
  3. Economics and political science alone
  4. Psychology, epidemiology, and physiology Correct answer.

Explanation

Health psychology integrates psychological science with epidemiological methods and physiological mechanisms to understand health and illness. This multidisciplinary base supports the biopsychosocial framework.

Question 18Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

A researcher finds that optimism predicts better cardiovascular outcomes even after controlling for baseline health behaviors. This finding is best interpreted as evidence for which claim?

  1. Optimism causes cardiovascular disease
  2. Health behaviors fully explain the optimism-outcome link
  3. Cardiovascular disease causes optimism
  4. Psychological factors are associated with health outcomes independent of measured behaviors Correct answer.

Explanation

An association persisting after adjustment for measured behaviors suggests psychological factors relate to outcomes through additional pathways. It does not by itself establish causation or rule out unmeasured confounding.

Question 19Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The biobehavioral model of health emphasizes that health behaviors influence disease primarily through which route?

  1. Direct physiological pathways and indirect effects on risk factors Correct answer.
  2. Medical imaging findings alone
  3. Genetic inheritance alone
  4. Random chance alone

Explanation

Health behaviors affect disease through direct physiological mechanisms and by shaping risk factors such as blood pressure and inflammation. This is central to understanding behavior-disease links.

Question 20Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Which statement best captures the concept of bidirectional mind-body influence?

  1. Psychological states affect physiology, and physiological states affect psychology Correct answer.
  2. Only physiology affects psychological states
  3. Psychological and physiological states are independent systems
  4. Only psychological states affect physiology

Explanation

Bidirectional influence means psychological processes can alter physiology and physiological states can alter mood and cognition. This reciprocity is a foundational assumption of health psychology.

Question 21Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

A patient with diabetes reports that depressive symptoms interfere with medication adherence. From a biopsychosocial perspective, the most appropriate formulation is which of the following?

  1. Depression affects adherence through psychological and social pathways that warrant integrated assessment Correct answer.
  2. Adherence problems are solely a matter of patient motivation
  3. Depression should be ignored until glycemic control improves
  4. Depression is a purely biological complication unrelated to adherence

Explanation

A biopsychosocial formulation recognizes that mood, cognitive, and social factors can shape self-management behaviors such as adherence. Integrated assessment targets these interacting pathways.

Question 22Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

The concept of somatization refers to which process?

  1. The expression of psychological distress through physical symptoms Correct answer.
  2. The deliberate fabrication of symptoms for gain
  3. The complete absence of physical symptoms
  4. The conversion of physical illness into psychological symptoms

Explanation

Somatization describes the presentation of psychological distress as somatic symptoms. It reflects mind-body interplay rather than deliberate deception.

Question 23Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Research on heart rate variability (HRV) and emotion regulation suggests that higher resting HRV is generally associated with which capacity?

  1. Reduced cognitive flexibility
  2. Complete absence of autonomic control
  3. Greater sympathetic dominance and poorer regulation
  4. Greater parasympathetic flexibility and better emotion regulation Correct answer.

Explanation

Higher HRV is thought to index parasympathetic flexibility and adaptive regulation of arousal. It has been associated with better emotion regulation and stress recovery.

Question 24Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Which of the following best describes the role of social support in the biopsychosocial model of health?

  1. Social support can buffer stress responses and influence health behaviors and outcomes Correct answer.
  2. Social support operates independently of biological processes
  3. Social support matters only for mental health
  4. Social support is irrelevant to physiological outcomes

Explanation

Social support is a social-level factor that can buffer stress physiology and shape health behaviors, linking social context to biological outcomes. This illustrates the model's multilevel integration.

Question 25Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

A study reports that a stress-management intervention lowers blood pressure, but participants were not randomly assigned and were highly motivated volunteers. Which conclusion is most defensible?

  1. Blood pressure cannot be influenced by psychological intervention
  2. The association is promising but selection and motivation threaten causal inference Correct answer.
  3. The intervention is ineffective because volunteers were motivated
  4. The intervention definitively causes blood pressure reduction

Explanation

Without randomization, selection and motivation differences could explain the observed change, so causal claims are premature. The finding is suggestive but requires stronger designs.

Question 26Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

In Engel's biopsychosocial model, illness and health outcomes are understood as emerging from which set of interacting influences?

  1. Biological, psychological, and social factors operating together Correct answer.
  2. Social factors alone, with biology treated as a downstream effect
  3. Purely biological processes that psychology can only describe
  4. Psychological traits that determine biology in a one-way chain

Explanation

Engel proposed the biopsychosocial model as a systems-oriented alternative to the biomedical model, holding that biological, psychological, and social levels jointly shape health and illness. The levels are reciprocal rather than hierarchical or one-directional.

Question 27Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

A researcher wants to test whether a relaxation intervention reduces headache frequency while accounting for participants' expectations of benefit. Which design feature most directly addresses this threat?

  1. Measuring headaches with a validated diary
  2. Increasing the sample size of the treatment arm
  3. Extending the follow-up period to one year
  4. Adding a credible sham or attention-control comparison group Correct answer.

Explanation

Expectancy effects are controlled by comparing the active intervention against a credible control that generates similar expectations without the presumed active ingredient. Larger samples, better measurement, and longer follow-up reduce other threats but do not equate expectancy across groups.

Question 28Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Allostasis differs from classical homeostasis mainly in that allostasis describes which process?

  1. Maintaining a single fixed internal set point through negative feedback
  2. Achieving stability through anticipatory change in set points and regulatory parameters Correct answer.
  3. Returning the body to baseline only after a stressor has ended
  4. Eliminating variability in physiological signals across the day

Explanation

Allostasis reframes regulation as stability through change: the brain anticipates demands and adjusts set points and effectors accordingly. Homeostasis emphasizes constancy around fixed set points, whereas allostasis treats the regulated parameters as themselves variable.

Question 29Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

Which historical development is most directly credited with establishing the field of behavioral medicine as an interdisciplinary enterprise linking behavioral science and biomedicine?

  1. The introduction of randomized controlled trials in pharmacology
  2. The discovery of penicillin and subsequent antibiotic era
  3. The mapping of the human genome in 2003
  4. The 1970s conferences and founding of behavioral medicine societies and journals Correct answer.

Explanation

Behavioral medicine coalesced in the 1970s through interdisciplinary meetings and the creation of dedicated societies and journals, formalizing collaboration among behavioral and biomedical scientists. The other developments advanced medicine broadly but were not the founding events of behavioral medicine as a field.

Question 30Foundations of Clinical Health Psychology: biopsychosocial model, mind-body relationships, and scientific bases of health and illness

A trial finds that a mindfulness program reduces inflammatory markers, but the effect disappears when baseline depressive symptoms are entered as a covariate. Which interpretation is most defensible?

  1. The apparent treatment effect may be attributable to pre-existing differences in depressive symptoms Correct answer.
  2. Depressive symptoms must be a mediator rather than a confounder here
  3. Inflammatory markers are invalid outcome measures in this design
  4. The intervention is proven ineffective for inflammation in all populations

Explanation

When an effect attenuates after adjusting for a variable that differs at baseline, that variable may be confounding the observed association rather than transmitting the treatment effect. A confounder is associated with both group assignment and outcome and precedes the intervention, whereas a mediator lies on the causal pathway after treatment.

Question 31Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

According to the transtheoretical model, a person who intends to begin exercising within the next 30 days but has not yet taken any action is in which stage of change?

  1. Contemplation Correct answer.
  2. Preparation
  3. Precontemplation
  4. Action

Explanation

The contemplation stage is defined by acknowledging a problem and intending to change within the next six months but not yet within the immediate 30-day window. Preparation requires intent to act within roughly 30 days plus some recent steps. Precontemplation involves no intention to change at all.

Question 32Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

The Health Belief Model proposes that the likelihood of taking a preventive health action is most directly increased by which combination of perceptions?

  1. High perceived barriers plus strong cues to action
  2. Low perceived susceptibility plus high perceived severity
  3. High perceived threat plus high perceived benefits minus barriers Correct answer.
  4. High self-efficacy plus low response efficacy

Explanation

The Health Belief Model holds that action is driven by perceived susceptibility and severity (threat) weighed against perceived benefits and barriers, along with cues to action and self-efficacy. High threat combined with favorable benefit-barrier balance maximizes the likelihood of action.

Question 33Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

In social cognitive theory, a client's confidence that she can walk 30 minutes daily even on busy workdays is best described as which construct?

  1. Behavioral capability
  2. Self-efficacy Correct answer.
  3. Outcome expectation
  4. Observational learning

Explanation

Self-efficacy is the belief in one's capacity to execute a specific behavior successfully across challenging circumstances. Outcome expectations concern anticipated consequences, not confidence in personal capability.

Question 34Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

A community program pairs free nicotine replacement with a tax increase on cigarettes and a ban on indoor smoking. This combination best illustrates which principle of effective prevention?

  1. Multi-level ecological intervention Correct answer.
  2. Downward social comparison
  3. Fear-based messaging
  4. Single-component intervention design

Explanation

The ecological model emphasizes intervening at multiple levels-individual, interpersonal, organizational, and policy/environmental-simultaneously for greater and more durable effects. Combining clinical services with policy changes is a classic multi-level strategy.

Question 35Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Which statement best characterizes the relationship between intention and behavior according to the intention-behavior gap literature?

  1. Intentions predict behavior almost perfectly when measured carefully
  2. Favorable intentions frequently fail to translate into action Correct answer.
  3. Behavior change occurs only when intentions are absent
  4. Intentions are irrelevant to health behavior change

Explanation

Research consistently shows a substantial gap: many people with strong intentions do not act on them, which motivates constructs such as planning, self-regulation, and environmental support. Intentions are necessary but insufficient predictors of behavior.

Question 36Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Implementation intentions are most effective for behavior change because they do which of the following?

  1. Reduce the perceived severity of a health threat
  2. Increase the strength of outcome expectations
  3. Replace conscious goals with habitual avoidance
  4. Link a specific cue to a specific behavioral response Correct answer.

Explanation

Implementation intentions take the form 'if situation X arises, I will do Y,' creating a mental cue-response link that automates initiation of the intended behavior. This if-then structure is what distinguishes them from mere goal intentions.

Question 37Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

A primary care psychologist wants to increase colorectal cancer screening uptake. Which approach has the strongest evidence base as a single intervention for increasing screening completion?

  1. Mailed fecal immunochemical test outreach with reminders Correct answer.
  2. Waiting for patients to request screening
  3. General health education pamphlets without reminders
  4. Annual physicals without screening prompts

Explanation

Mailed FIT outreach with reminders is among the most effective single strategies for increasing colorectal cancer screening, reliably outperforming usual care and passive education. Active, direct outreach reduces effort and structural barriers for patients.

Question 38Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Which of the following best describes the 'teachable moment' in health behavior change?

  1. A scheduled educational session delivered in a clinical setting
  2. A stage in which health literacy is temporarily elevated
  3. A naturally occurring life event that motivates spontaneous reappraisal of risk behavior Correct answer.
  4. A period when a person is developmentally ready to learn any new skill

Explanation

Teachable moments are naturally occurring events-such as a new diagnosis or a health scare-that prompt people to reconsider risk behaviors and adopt change. They are capitalized on rather than scheduled.

Question 39Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Motivational interviewing is most consistent with which stance toward a client ambivalent about quitting alcohol?

  1. Confronting denial directly to break through resistance
  2. Evoking and strengthening the client's own arguments for change Correct answer.
  3. Setting firm contingencies and consequences for continued drinking
  4. Providing information and advice without eliciting the client's own reasons

Explanation

Motivational interviewing is collaborative and evocative, aiming to elicit change talk from the client rather than impose it. Confrontation and directive persuasion tend to increase resistance.

Question 40Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

A worksite wellness program uses financial incentives that are withdrawn after six months. Based on the broader behavior-change literature, which outcome is most likely?

  1. Sustained behavior maintenance after incentives end
  2. Permanent elimination of the target behavior
  3. No change in behavior during the incentive period
  4. Behavioral relapse toward pre-incentive levels after withdrawal Correct answer.

Explanation

Extrinsic incentives reliably increase behavior while in place, but effects often decay once incentives are removed unless intrinsic motivation and skills are also addressed. Maintenance requires additional supports.

Question 41Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Which of the following is the best example of a structural (upstream) intervention to reduce obesity?

  1. Zoning rules that expand access to affordable produce Correct answer.
  2. Teaching patients to read nutrition labels
  3. Individual calorie-counting counseling
  4. Prescribing a very low-calorie diet

Explanation

Upstream or structural interventions alter the environments and policies that shape behavior for whole populations, such as zoning that improves food access. The other options target individual knowledge or behavior.

Question 42Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

A team designing a diabetes prevention program wants to maximize reach and equity. Which design choice is most consistent with a population-based prevention approach?

  1. Requiring in-person weekday daytime attendance
  2. Restricting enrollment to those with private insurance
  3. Recruiting only patients referred by endocrinologists
  4. Delivering the program in convenient community settings with flexible scheduling Correct answer.

Explanation

Population-based prevention emphasizes broad reach, accessibility, and reduction of participation barriers, which supports community delivery and flexible scheduling. Restrictive referral, insurance, or scheduling requirements narrow reach and worsen inequities.

Question 43Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

In the context of vaccination promotion, which strategy has the strongest evidence for increasing uptake among hesitant individuals?

  1. Brief motivational conversations that elicit and address specific concerns Correct answer.
  2. Repeating the same message louder and more frequently
  3. Removing all choice about vaccination
  4. Publicly shaming those who decline

Explanation

Brief, respectful conversations that elicit concerns and respond to them-consistent with motivational approaches-are more effective than repetition or coercion for addressing hesitancy. Coercive or shaming tactics can entrench resistance.

Question 44Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Which of the following best captures the concept of 'response efficacy' in a health communication model?

  1. A person's belief that they are personally capable of performing the action
  2. A person's estimate of how common the health condition is
  3. A person's perception that others expect them to act
  4. A person's belief that a recommended action will effectively reduce the threat Correct answer.

Explanation

Response efficacy is the belief that the recommended behavior will actually avert or reduce the threat. It is distinct from self-efficacy, which concerns one's own capability to perform the behavior.

Question 45Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

A patient reports strong intentions to attend cardiac rehabilitation but repeatedly misses sessions because of transportation problems. The best intervention target is which of the following?

  1. Reassuring the patient that attendance matters little
  2. Increasing the patient's stated intention to attend
  3. Addressing practical barriers and building coping plans Correct answer.
  4. Deferring all discussion of rehabilitation

Explanation

When intentions are strong but behavior lags, the problem lies in volitional and environmental barriers rather than motivation. Interventions should target barrier reduction and coping planning.

Question 46Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Which statement about the relationship between social support and health behavior is best supported?

  1. Social support affects only emotional well-being, not behavior
  2. Social support is associated with better adherence and maintenance of health behaviors Correct answer.
  3. Social support matters only in childhood
  4. Social support reliably undermines behavior change

Explanation

Social support is consistently associated with better initiation, adherence, and maintenance of health behaviors, partly through modeling, practical assistance, and accountability. It is a key interpersonal-level influence.

Question 47Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

A clinic wants to reduce no-shows and improve follow-through on referrals. Which combination is most consistent with evidence-based behavioral prompting?

  1. Passive waiting-room posters alone
  2. Verbal advice without any follow-up
  3. Written instructions given only at discharge
  4. Automated reminders plus same-day scheduling of the next appointment Correct answer.

Explanation

Reminders combined with reducing effort (such as scheduling the next appointment before the patient leaves) address both memory and structural barriers, and are more effective than passive or single-channel approaches.

Question 48Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Which of the following best describes the precaution adoption process model's key departure from the transtheoretical model?

  1. It applies only to substance use disorders
  2. It replaces self-efficacy with genetic risk
  3. It denies that people move through any stages at all
  4. It treats stage transitions as driven by specific beliefs and cues rather than by a single global readiness dimension Correct answer.

Explanation

The precaution adoption process model specifies distinct stages (e.g., unaware, unengaged, deciding, acting) and emphasizes the specific beliefs and cues that move people between them, rather than a single global readiness construct.

Question 49Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

Which of the following is an example of a secondary prevention activity?

  1. Providing childhood immunizations
  2. Conducting mammography screening for early cancer detection Correct answer.
  3. Rehabilitating a patient after a stroke
  4. Counseling to prevent initiation of tobacco use

Explanation

Secondary prevention aims to detect disease early, when treatment is more effective, as with screening mammography. Primary prevention prevents disease onset, and tertiary prevention limits disability after disease has occurred.

Question 50Health Behavior, Prevention, and Health Promotion

A psychologist evaluating a new physical activity program finds a large effect on self-reported steps but no change on accelerometer-measured activity. Which interpretation is most appropriate?

  1. The program should be declared ineffective without further analysis
  2. The program is clearly effective because self-report improved
  3. Accelerometers are invalid for measuring physical activity
  4. The discrepancy suggests possible measurement or reporting bias that warrants caution Correct answer.

Explanation

Divergence between self-report and objective measures raises concerns about reporting bias or measurement reactivity, and conclusions should be tempered pending further analysis. Neither measure should be dismissed outright.