Health Belief Model: The Health Belief Model

The Health Belief Model is the model I have selected to guide me through the internship. In the Health Belief Model there is the assumption that people will take responsibility and action if they believe that their health issues is possible to address, they have a positive outlook on the proposed plan of action, and if the person believes they are able to take the proposed action. The levels of the Health Belief Model go step by step with how people process their logic of the health issue they are faced with. Taking obesity in children. If the child or parent takes an assessment of how likely they are to get the perceived issue of obesity is perceived susceptibility.

The Health Belief Model is commonly used for health promotion and health education. Its’ underlying concept is that health behavior is explained by perception of the disease and the strategies available to lower its occurrence. There are four perceptions of the HBM, which are perceived seriousness, perceived benefit, perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers. In addition to that, more constructs are added to health belief model that includes motivating factor, cues to action and self-efficacy. Each of these constructs in combination or individually, could be used to determine health behavior. The HBM also provides guidelines for the program development allowing planners to address reasons for non-compliance with recommended health action. The health belief model is a process used to promote healthy behavior among individuals who may be at risk of developing adverse health outcomes. A person must gauge their perceptions of severity and susceptibility of developing a disease. Then it is essential to feel vulnerable by these perceptions. Environmental factors can play a role as well as cues to action such as media, and close friends. In order to determine that taking action will be meaningful, the benefits to change must be weighed, against the barriers to change behavior (Green & Murphy, 2014).

Acknowledging how the patient perceives illness and health, helps in understanding the beliefs and how they relate with preventing

The Health Belief Model (HBM) of health behaviour change was originally developed in the 1950s in order to understand and explain why vaccination and screening programs being implemented at the time were not meeting with success (Edberg 2007). It was later extended to account for preventive health actions and illness behaviours (Roden 2004). Succinctly, it suggests that behaviour change is influenced by an individuals’ assessment of the benefits and achievability of the change versus the cost of it (Naidoo and Wills 2000).

Using the health belief model, how can nurses encourage patients to make immediate and permanent behavior changes; particularly as they relate to lifestyle choices?

According to Glanz, Rimer, and Viswanath (2008) the Health Belief Model attempts to explain why people do or do not engage in specific health behaviors such as taking action to prevent, screen for, or to control illness conditions through concepts including susceptibility, seriousness, benefits and barriers to a behavior, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Perceived susceptibility is defined as a person’s beliefs about the likelihood of getting a disease or condition. Perceived severity is defined as a person’s feelings about the seriousness of contracting an illness or of leaving it untreated. Perceived benefits are described as influencing whether a person’s perceived susceptibility will lead to behavior change. Perceived Barriers are described as

The healthy belief method was demonstrated with this study. The study demonstrated that the impact of health beliefs on behavior showed a direct relationship between health

I believe that heath is based on emotional, spiritual and physical well-being. I believe that it is the absence of illness and abnormal conditions. I believe health constantly changes across one’s life span. I believe that it is important for a nurse to ensure that the relationship is not only with the client but with their families, friends, other health care providers and caregivers. It is the nurse’s responsibility to provide individualized care for each client. A nurse should educate them and their family to ensure health promotion and health maintenance

The World Heath Organization defines health as being a state of wholeness in a person’s mental, physical, and social well being (Gurung, 2014). Different models of health are used worldwide to assist in achieving this state. Two widely used models of health in the United States include the biomedical model of health and the biopsychosocial model of health. They both strive to help individuals and communities achieve wholeness, while approaching this in different manners. Each model of health has strengths, drawbacks, and practical uses in the field of medicine.

Based on the concepts established for the Health Belief Model, one could focus their attentions toward the screening of prostate cancer Jamaican males. For example the constructs could be as follows: (1) knowledge regarding prostate cancer and perceived susceptibility of diagnosis (2) perceived expectancy or seriousness of having prostate cancer, (3) perceived benefits of being screened for prostate cancer, (4) perceived barriers to being screened for prostate cancer, (5) cues to action to seek screening for prostate cancer, (6) motivating factors toward screening for prostate cancer and (7) the belief one's ability to take action toward treating prostate

Both the health belief model (HBM) and theories of reasoned action/planned behavior (TRA/TPB) are two model that has their root from psychology. Both models rely on social cognition as a mechanism to change individuals’ behaviors. Opponent criticizes the models for being unable to target social influence outside of an individual and overlook difference between target audiences.

I believe that values lead to beliefs. I believe that nursing should be a respectful and mindful interaction with not only the patient the nurses are assigned but as well as the family involved in the care. Another belief I have is that the nurse has the right to question a medication, order or care plan if the nurse thinks it is wrong or not beneficial to the patient in promoting health. As a nurse we are advocate for the patients, not every patient has experience or know medical lingo, so it is up to the nurses to be their voice and explain what is going on. Another belief as a nurse is that we practice using the principles of evidence-based practice and research. This also means using team members to collaborate with to help make the best clinical decision. Everyone has different beliefs but as a team putting together everyone’s beliefs could potentially benefit the patient and give the nurses different views on care.

Conner and Norman, 1995 describe the health belief model as ‘the oldest and most widely used model in health psychology’. It originated in the 50’s and was developed further by Hochbaum, Rosenstock and Kegals throughout the 1980’s for health education programmes and to predict different health behaviours and responses to treatments. The four terms that are the basis for the HBM are perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers, perceived severity and perceived benefits. The behaviour of the individual depends on their belief that they are susceptible to a health problem, how serious they deem it to be, whether they think that treatment will benefit them and if there are barriers that may get in the way.

The Health Belief Model (HBM) is one of the first theories of health behavior. It was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists in the U.S. Public Health Services to better understand the widespread failure of tuberculosis screening programs. Today it continues to be one of the most widely used theories. Research studies use it to explain and predict health behaviors seen in individuals. There is a broad range of health behaviors and subject populations that it is applied in. The concepts in the model involve perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of individuals being studied create an understanding of their

Health belief model was one of the first and most widely recognized theories of health behavior. (Butts & Rich, 2011). This theory was formulated in an attempt to predict health behaviors by focusing on the attitude and beliefs of individuals. It is aimed to determine the likelihood of an individual to participate in health-promotion and disease prevention programs. (Kozier & Erb, 2011). This theory postulated that if a patient is well- motivated, there is a possibility that he will participate in these activities. Motivation can be derived by the individual's perceptions towards his condition. According to Becker (1974), individual perceptions include patient's perceived susceptibility, perceived seriousness of the disease and perceived threat.