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Assignment questions
PsychologyDiscussion postChronic illness

Developmental theories applied to a chronic condition

The three assigned theories say overlapping things, so the difficulty is distinguishing them. Each has a different unit of analysis, and naming that is what stops the post reading as one idea repeated three times.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 15, 2026

01

Pick the condition that suits three theories at once

Choose the condition first, and choose one with visible effects across all three levels the theories care about. Diabetes and PTSD both work well: each changes daily behaviour, each carries disability and morbidity, and each is shaped by family, workplace and policy in ways you can name. Then describe how the condition leads to changes in behaviour, disability and morbidity as three separate things, because the prompt lists them separately and they are not the same. Behaviour change is the daily reorganisation — monitoring, medication timing, avoidance, altered eating or sleeping. Disability is the resulting limitation in what the person can do. Morbidity is the accumulation of further disease that follows, whether through the pathology itself or through the behaviour it produced. Keeping them apart matters because the theories attach to different ones: an ecological model has most to say about behaviour, while morbidity is where the biological domain does its work.

The theories are where posts blur, because all three are broadly ecological and it is easy to describe one idea three times. Separate them by unit of analysis. Bronfenbrenner is about nested systems and the interactions between them: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem, with the chronosystem doing real work for a chronic condition since duration and timing across a life course are the point. The biopsychosocial model is about three interacting domains within and around the person, and its distinctive claim is that biological, psychological and social factors are co-determining rather than one being primary and the others modifying it. Person-in-environment comes from social work practice and is assessment-oriented: it exists to locate a client's functioning within their environment for the purpose of intervention, which makes it the most practical of the three. Say what each one lets you see that the others do not, and use the Instructor Guidance and the videos the prompt names.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Distinguish behaviour change, disability and morbidity as separate consequences.
  • 02
    Separate three overlapping ecological frameworks by their unit of analysis.
  • 03
    Identify what the chronosystem contributes to understanding a chronic condition.
  • 04
    Explain why person-in-environment is assessment-oriented rather than explanatory.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Developmental Theories as They Relate to Chronic Conditions Prior to completing this discussion, read the Bronfenbrenner Ecological theory in Chapter 1 of our textbook, the Schneiderman (2004) article, “Psychosocial, Behavioral, and Biological Aspects of Chronic Diseases,” the Kondrat (2013) article “Person In Environment” and review the Instructor Guidance. Watch the videos below to get an understanding of the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model and Erik Erikson’s Biopsychosocial Model. Discussion:Theories Relation to Chronic Condition Choose one of the following chronic conditions: Cancer Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Hypertension (High blood pressure) Diabetes Arthritis Describe how the chronic condition leads to changes in behaviors, disability, and morbidity. Review the three theories (Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological theory, Biopsychosocial, Person-In-Environment) in the Instructor Guidance and/or the videos in the resources list, and discuss the following in your initial post. Consider one system in Bronfenbrenner’s theory, what system would have the greatest positive impact in managing the disease? Explain your answer. Consider Biopsychosocial Model, which aspects of biological, psychological, and social domains are most important to understanding and promoting the patient’s health? Explain your answer. Consider the Person-In-Environment system, how should the environment change to improve the person’s ability to live with the disease and vice versa? Your initial contribution should be a minimum 150 words in length. Support your claims with research from at least one scholarly source beyond your textbook. Use proper APA formatting for in-text citations and references as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor. The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.

02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    One chronic condition selected from the five listed.
  2. 02
    Its effects on behaviour, disability and morbidity, described separately.
  3. 03
    Each of the three theories applied, with what it uniquely reveals.
  4. 04
    Use of the Instructor Guidance and the assigned readings, with citations.
03

The condition's effects, then each theory applied

01

Choose and characterise the condition

Select one condition and state why it shows effects at every level.

02

Behaviour, disability and morbidity

Describe each consequence separately with concrete examples.

03

Bronfenbrenner's nested systems

Apply micro through macro and chronosystem to the condition.

04

The biopsychosocial model

Show biological, psychological and social factors as co-determining.

05

Person-in-environment

Apply it as an assessment framework aimed at intervention.

04

Sources for each theoretical model

Recommended databases

  • Your textbook chapter 1 and the assigned articles
  • PsycINFO
  • PubMed Central
  • The Instructor Guidance and module videos

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Read the three assigned sources first, since the post is graded against them.
  2. 2.
    Find the original statement of each model rather than a secondary summary, since the distinctions are what matter.
  3. 3.
    Search your chosen condition together with each theory to see whether an applied literature exists.
  4. 4.
    Note what each framework was designed to do — explain, integrate or assess — since that is the cleanest way to separate them.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    CDC's Developmental Milestones

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · 2024

    Developmental framing across the life course, which is what the chronosystem depends on.

  2. 02

    Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

    National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases · 2026

    A worked account of a chronic condition's progression through behaviour, disability and morbidity.

  3. 03

    Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health

    World Health Organization · 2021

    Population-level framing of the social determinants the outer systems of each model describe.

  4. 04

    Comparing the Concept of Caring in Islamic Perspective with Watson and Parse's Nursing Theories

    Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research · 2017

    A comparison of conceptual frameworks, a model for distinguishing theories that overlap.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Describing one ecological idea three times under three names.
  • Merging behaviour, disability and morbidity into a single account of the illness.
  • Choosing a condition whose social dimension is hard to specify.
  • Ignoring the chronosystem, which is the most relevant element for a chronic condition.
  • Treating the biopsychosocial model as biology plus context rather than as co-determination.

Submission checklist

  • Is the condition from the list of five?
  • Are behaviour, disability and morbidity addressed separately?
  • Does each theory get a distinctive contribution?
  • Have you used the chronosystem?
  • Are the assigned readings cited?

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Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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