Your essay and those of the members of your group must be handed in at the same time, so please submit all assignments attached with a clip. As you are expected to cite at least three journal articles in your essay , in addition to relevant texts, you must become familiar with recent literature in the area of your choice. Topics Children's understanding of health and illness is limited by their cognitive development. However, children can be encouraged to take responsibility for certain health-related behaviours, and childhood may be a very important period during which health habits are established. You may restrict the context of your essay to one particular health context e.g., dental hygiene, exercise, nutrition.
Social support is a complex psychosocial variable.
One hypothesis is that social support buffers the effect of stress. Another is that social support has a direct and positive effect on the individual experiencing stressful situations. Chronic illness and its management involves an adaptation of the individual's lifestyle. The experience of chronic pain may have a profound influence on the sufferer's self-image. Trends include early identification of at-risk individuals, increasing expectations that behaviour change programs will impact on health, increasing numbers of people coping with chronic illnesses, and shifts to community and global health perspectives.