Herbert Case Study: Health Complications and Intervention Strategies

This case study examines the health status of Herbert, a 65-year-old man with chronic hypertension and obesity, living in a coastal region. It explores the factors influencing his health decisions and behaviors, including lifestyle choices, social influences, and psychological aspects. The analysis delves into the bio-psychosocial model, highlighting the interplay of psychological, social, and physical factors contributing to Herbert's health complications. It discusses the impact of stress, financial struggles, and relationship issues. The case study further addresses psycho-physiological aspects, health promotion, and illness prevention strategies, including interventions like stress management techniques, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions to improve Herbert's health and well-being. The study provides an overview of the treatment procedures and the measures to prevent and control the complications.

Running head: HERBERT CASE STUDY 1
Introduction
Health is wealth. Therefore it is a personal responsibility to keep healthy by voiding some of
the activities and behaviours which will negatively impact their health status. The thesis of
the essay paper presented is based on the health status of an aging man of about 65 years of
age living in the coastal region with his wife. The essay paper further discuss the health
condition of Hebert following his health complication as he is suffering from various illness
like chronic hypertension and obesity.
The essay provides some of the factors which affects health decisions and behaviours in
relation to the Herbert’s health complication giving into details some of the healthy practices
one is expected to practices and health decision to ensure better health of an individual. By
using Mr Herbert’s health condition, casual agents which can lead to the mentioned health
complication and possible ways to prevent and control the complications are discussed in the
context below. Treatment procedures for such illness are also discussed in order to help
control such complications.
Various aspects of health are discussed in the essay presented as they provides health
complications and their prevention measures, they include health promotion and illness,
Psycho-physiological aspects of health.

HERBERT CASE STUDY 2
Introduction to the client
Herbert is an aging man, who is 65 years of age. He is married, and live with his wife
in the coastal town. He has a health issue of chronic hypertension and obesity. At his part-
time, he works as a gardener in his local retirement village, and he has personal and financial
struggles. Herbert has reached his chronic age of late adulthood. Late adulthood is generally
considered to begin at about the age of 65 (Cramer, 2017, p.540).
According to the case study, Herbert is not a healthy man. It can be identified that
Herbert has both disease and illness symptoms. Disease is generally defined as an abnormal
state of the body that is diagnosed by a medical physician or qualified observer (Akhade &
Lakhe, 2016, p. 762). While illness means a health condition that an individual identifies
himself or herself with. Illness can be based on mental or physical symptoms (Mouratidi,
Bonoti, and Leondari, 2016, p. 432). It can be determined that Herbert has chronic
hypertension disease and he is overweight meaning when diagnosed he can be having obesity
disease. Moreover, he has mental and physical symptoms, which can be defined as an illness.
In recent time, he is also experiencing problems with vision and most of the time, he finds
hard to perform manual task. He is also experiencing stress illness because he has many
health issues in his body, financial problem, and difficulties in his marriage (Heinze et al.
2015, p.270).
Bio-psychosocial model of health can be applied in the case of Herbert. The bio-
psychosocial model of health is a framework that states that interaction between
psychological, social, and psychological factors determine the cause, manifestation, and
outcome of wellness (Cowley and Collins, 2016, p.371). This can be reflected in the case
study of Herbert, where he experiences all the symptoms recorded in the bio-psychosocial
model of health. Herbert health state is the outcome of the number of reasons. Example,

HERBERT CASE STUDY 3
Herbert has poor lifestyle behaviour of drinking alcohol, diet, and inactivity (psychological)
and also has physical symptoms hypertension, low immunity system, obesity and vision
problem (physical), which cause difficulties in his marriage (social) (Babalola, Noel, &
White, 2017, p. 293). He also experiences stress and anxiety in regards to his financial status,
health issues, and difficulties in his marriage (psychological) (Babalola, Noel, & White, 2017,
p. 293).
Factor affecting health decision and behaviour
Complex social environment are the risk factors that are the characteristics in person
surroundings that can be detrimental for the health of the individual or society (Roehrle &
Strouse, 2019, p.1). In the case study, Herbert has two social environments or domains of
influence; these are home and the local hotel. In this case, Herbert, most of the time, spends
playing pokies at the local hotel, and as a consequence, they are suffering from some financial
issues. At home, he got stress from his wife as she keeps threatening him to leave him. In this
context, the concept of Locus of control can be discussed which is a degree of personality
psychology in which people believe they have control over every situation that affects their
lives and also blame outside forces for any adverse outcomes (Cobb-Clark, Kassenboehmer &
Sinning, 2016, p. 1). Herbert complains about everything, and he is making his own decision,
which reflects his internal locus of control attitude.
Also, there are some social influences associated with his health and behaviour. Social
influence refers to how all the external factors alter their behaviour (Taylor & Eckles, 2018,
p. 2). Unhealthy lifestyle, low self-esteem, exclusion, isolation, and on-going stress are the
five social influences in Herbert life that is affecting his health. In this case, Herbert poor
financial condition and absence of social contact lead him to social isolation. Herbert low
esteem is characterized by feeling bad about him and a lack of confidence. In Herbert life, an

HERBERT CASE STUDY 4
unhealthy lifestyle is caused by alcohol, lack of physical activity, and unhealthy eating. On-
going stress is due to his relationship problem with his wife, financial status, weight problem,
and current medical problem. In turns, all these mechanisms lead him to obesity, alter blood
pressure response, decrease immunity and anxiety, that place Herbert at risk for adverse
health and functioning outcomes (Lee & Hanna, 2015 p.139).
Inequality refers to the quality of not being equal like others, which depict the
difference (Gimpelson & Treisman, 2018, p.2). In Herbert case, he faces many health issues,
strength problem, and financial condition, but unlike other people of his society. In turns, all
these inequality factors are harmful because it put him in a hierarchy, which reduces social
cohesion; increase competition for status, insecurity, and stress, leading him to poor health
and other negative outcomes. Culture is a social behaviour found in human societies that
reflects ideas, customs of a particular people or society (Storey, 2018, p.1). Poor lifestyle
behaviour is the cultural influence in Herbert life that affecting his health. Eating junk food
and drinking alcohol can be seen as a status in some societies (Inglehart, 2018, p.34). On the
case, it can be reflected in the behaviour culture of Herbert, where he changes his lifestyle of
eating junk food and drinks much of the wine. In turns, all these mechanisms lead him to
obesity, alter blood pressure response and decrease immunity, that place Herbert at risk for
adverse health and functioning outcomes (Lee & Hanna, 2015 p. 138).
Psycho-physiological aspects of health
Psychosomatic can be defined as the physical disease, which is caused or made worse
by mental factors (Fava, Cosci and Sanino, 2017 p.15). The body symptoms involve both the
mind and the body of the individual. This means the mental health of the individual, such as
anxiety or stress, can affect the physical state of the individual. This can be linked in the case
where Herbert feels fatigued or challenging to perform the manual task. The psychosomatic

HERBERT CASE STUDY 5
symptoms of uniqueness or tiredness might be caused by psychological factors like his on-
going stress, worry, and emotional upset. Cortisol, the main immunity module, is also known
by main stress hormone in the body, so any type of stressor will influence the immunity
system (Fava, Cosci and Sanino, 2017 p.22). Stress is a state of emotional or mental strain
resulting from demanding and adverse circumstances (Seaward, 2017, p. 25). There are two
types of stressors in Herbert life are eustress, which refers to positive stress and distress,
which is the term for negative stress. In the case study, he is experiencing eustress, where he
seeks counselling from his friend. He is experiencing distress due to his health, financial
problem, and marriage difficulties.
Task focus approach and emotion focus approach strategies can be identified in
Herbert case about his stress. Task focus approach can be defined as the situation where an
individual invests in his consciousness to solve his problems so that to minimize stress
(Gilbert, 2015 p. 232). An example from the case study can be reflected where Herbert seeks
medical help from the registered nurse and is seeking counselling about his marriage
problem, stress, and anxiety. Emotion focus approach can be defined as the short-term
treatment of distress. It involves trying to reduce negative emotional responses associated
with stress (Gilbert, 2015 p. 233). In Herbert case, spending much of his time in the local
hotel with pokies and drinking alcohol can be considered as an emotion focus approach as it
focuses on the arousal caused by stress, not the problem.
Stress can be defined as the situation where the body reacts to any change that needs a
response. These changes can be physical, cognitive, behavioural and psychological responses
(Seaward, 2017, p. 25). The physiological response can be defined as a reaction, which is
automatic, and it causes a physical reaction to a stimulus. (Atkinson and Batterham, 2015 p.
578). Examples of physical responses to his stress are weight gain, low energy, and weakness
and hypertension disease. The psychological response refers to psychological or emotional

HERBERT CASE STUDY 6
reactions experience in which the demands or pressure go beyond their coping resources
(Bauld and Brown. 2009, p.163). Examples of psychology response are his anger, lack of
motivation, loneliness, isolation, unhappiness, and expecting the worse. Cognitive responses
are self-care strategy based on individual judgment or evaluation of how they perceive
stressor (Lucia-Palacios, Pérez-López, and Polo-Redondo, 2016 p. 10). Examples are his poor
judgment about his health, always worried about his health, financial struggles, and
experiencing difficulties in his marriage. The behavioural response can be defined as the
results, which evoke after physiological changes, which arise due to continuous stress in the
life of the individual (Seaward, 2017, p. 27). Examples of behavioural response are unhealthy
diet consumption, drinking alcohol and withdrawing from others.
Health Promotion and Illness
Illness prevention is an action taken by health professionals or institute to prevent the
occurrence of illness (Jones & Creedy, 2012, p. 287). On the other hand, health promotion is
the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinant, and
thereby improve, their health (WHO, 2019). Illness prevention is differ from health
promotion because illness prevention can be characterized as the service which concentrate
on healthcare sector as compare to health promotion services that are dependent on inter-
sectoral actions concerned with social health determinants (WHO, 2019). Intervention is a
combination of program strategies or elements designed to improve health status or produce
healthy behaviour among individuals. Interventions that can be use in Herbert’s situation are
Maslow hierarchy needs, psychosocial intervention, stress management techniques and
primary, secondary and tertiary intervention,
According to the case study, Herbert’s physical inactivity, intake red wine, poor dietary habit
and over weight is associated with his adverse health outcome. Herbert could be benefit from

HERBERT CASE STUDY 7
program designed to discourage the uptake of alcohol, increasing opportunities for physical
activity, and healthy eating, and providing self management program for him to deal with his
hypertension disease. Such interventions programs categorise in three levels are primary,
secondary and tertiary intervention (Psaltopoulou, Ilias, & Alevizaki, 2010, p. 32). Stress
management is another intervention, which refers to an array of techniques whose aim is to
control the stress levels in particular chronic stress with the goal of improvement everyday
functioning (Creaser, 2017, p. 580). Stress management can promote health and prevent
illness. Example of stress management intervention includes program design to encourage the
exercise, progressive relaxation, biofeedback, meditation, and mindfulness-based stress
reduction.
Maslow hierarchy of needs is a psychology theory that was proposed by Abraham Maslow to
describe the needs that motivate human behaviour (Nyden, Petersson, & Nystrom, 2003,
p.271). The five basic needs on Maslow include physiological needs, safety needs, love and
belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow can be used in Herbert’s situation to
understand what he wants in life in terms of satisfaction. Moreover, satisfying these needs
will promote his health and avoid unpleasant feeling or consequences.
Psychosocial intervention is defined as intervention, which emphasizes social,
psychological, health promotional and educational strategies to address the determinants of
health (emotional and social) rather than disease or illness (Forsman, Nordmyr, & Wahlbeck,
2011, p. 88). Psychosocial intervention has a positive effect on quality of life and promote
health. Example of psychosocial intervention is empowering Herbert with health education to
help him to make positive decision about his health, and opportunity to participate in healthy
behaviour.

HERBERT CASE STUDY 8
Conclusion
The paper discussed about health status and some of the healthy practices one is required
to practice in control of such complication that is according to Mr Herbert health condition
that is following the infections and effects of chronic hypertension and obesity on the Mr
Herbert’s health.
Prevention measures, control measures and treatment of the old age diseases like chronic
hypertension and obesity according to Mr Herbert case are outlined in the context so as to
ensure healthy living among the age people since they are prone to such illness through health
promotion and illness and Psycho-physiological aspects of health.
Predisposing factors such poor health decisions and behaviour which can lead to the risk
of contacting the above discussed health complications that is chronic hypertension and
obesity by the aged people are discussed in the context in order to enlighten them on such
factors.

HERBERT CASE STUDY 9
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