7. Oster (2020) “Health Recommendations and Selection in Health Behaviors” which found that spurious links between health behaviours and good health outcomes can be self-reinforcing if individuals who engage follow the recommendation also engage in other positive health behaviours. a) Briefly describe in your own (layperson) words what this implies about false positive findings and null findings. b) Can you think of an example where the opposite is true? That is, individuals who follow the recommendation also engage in negative health behaviors. c) Suppose a medical examiner (coroner) is deciding the cause of death of a recently deceased patient. The patient overdosed and is unclear whether the overdose was accidental or intentional (i.e., suicide). The medical examiner remembers hearing on the news that morning that suicides have been rising in recent years. What does this imply about the likely cause of death the medical examiner will record on the death certificate? What does this imply about overall time trends in public messaging? Relate this to Oster (2020).
7. Oster (2020) “Health Recommendations and Selection in Health Behaviors” which found that spurious links between health behaviours and good health outcomes can be self-reinforcing if individuals who engage follow the recommendation also engage in other positive health behaviours. a) Briefly describe in your own (layperson) words what this implies about false positive findings and null findings. b) Can you think of an example where the opposite is true? That is, individuals who follow the recommendation also engage in negative health behaviors. c) Suppose a medical examiner (coroner) is deciding the cause of death of a recently deceased patient. The patient overdosed and is unclear whether the overdose was accidental or intentional (i.e., suicide). The medical examiner remembers hearing on the news that morning that suicides have been rising in recent years. What does this imply about the likely cause of death the medical examiner will record on the death certificate? What does this imply about overall time trends in public messaging? Relate this to Oster (2020).
The topic of "Health Behaviors" and how they might be impacted by outside causes and correlations with other behaviors is relevant to the inquiry you've asked. The idea of "spurious links," or relationships that might not actually be causal but appear to be caused by other connected elements, is very relevant. This subject is a subset of the larger area of health psychology and epidemiology, which focuses on how different behaviors and environmental variables affect health outcomes.
The research by Emily Oster that you referenced examines this idea in relation to health advice and the possibility for self-reinforcing practices. The influence of health habits, interventions, and public messaging on people's health decisions and results is a topic of research in this area. It's a field of research that advances our knowledge of public health initiatives, health promotion, and the intricate interaction of variables that affect individual health choices.
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