The mass media (including everything from television and music to popular novels and fan cultures), creates an endless and accessible flow of information. “What we know about the world beyond out immediate surroundings comes to us via the media (Yates 1999).” The technology of electronic media and the art of advertising have combined to create very powerful tools of influence. These tools are capable of shaping the attitudes, values and behaviors of large numbers of people (Walsh.) By identifying and examining the various forms of health information contained in the media, problems arise because the media does not present it’s messages in a neutral and straightforward way. Because the media distorts reality, …show more content…
Theories and models of health behavior can be used to explain behavior and clarify the effects of external influences on individuals. Health promotion educators use many different models for understanding behavior change and designing successful interventions. Some common models are used to describe and predict behavior. Skinner and Pavlov introduced a behavioral and operant conditioning theory that stated humans are biological machines and behavior is a product of conditioning, Freud argued humans are driven by subconscious instinct in his Psychoanalytic theory, and Rogers started a wellness movement in his humanist and client-centered view. Behavior theories exist on many levels including individual, familial, and societal.
On an individual level, the Health Belief Model states that changes in behavior depend on an individuals belief that a health problem is serious (perceived severity), that one may be susceptible to the problem (threat), that changing one's behavior will reduce the threat (benefit), ones perception of the obstacles necessary to change the behavior (barriers), and the belief that one has the ability to change one's behavior (self- efficacy.)
On a familial and/or societal level, the Theory of
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.
Mass media is one of the main approaches used in health promotion and its lack of success may be due to its oversimplification or segmented view of health and well-being.
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).
Mental health has been a topic of discussion and has held a stigma around it for numerous years. Society at times has viewed it in a closed minded view due to generational aspects and lack of understanding. With the lack of education on mental health, the society, cultures, and communities often times more than not stereotype and discriminate against those with mental health disabilities. The population, of which I have discussed previously, is a population with one of the most negative attitudes against them. Media and society views these individuals as psychopaths, sociopaths, and being insane with some people even go as far as indicating these individuals should not be living. With Antisocial Personality Disorder, media has portrayed these
Health in the Media: Using the Models of Health to Assess Media Articles about Health Topics
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 more I read Chapter Eleven on this topic of health presence in the media, the more I realized how the social comparison theory manifested itself in different ways for my sister Monica. The role models she admired also came from our own family circle. One of our cousins, Elena, looked like a model in that she was beautifully shaped and got plenty of complements from the opposite sex whenever we would go out to the pool or beach in the summers. I realize now that my sister would consult her on fashion trends and would try to emulate her eating habits.
The following media analysis will review a media article that has recently been published. The report will refer to both the media article and the social determinants of health to discuss how obesity can potentially be the cause of several health issues, with appropriate evidence to support this.
19. At the intrapersonal level, theories of health behavior assume individuals exist within and are influenced by a
Boskey (2014) concludes that a person’s willingness to change their health behaviors includes perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived barriers, and cues to action and self-efficacy. For example, Carpenter (2010) report the Health Belief Model stipulates that a change may occur if individuals see an adverse health outcome to be severe and perceive them to be vulnerable to it. Other perceptions include benefits of behaviors that reduce the likelihood of that outcome to be high, and the barriers to adopting those behaviors low (Carter, 2010). Furthermore, the HBM addresses the relationship between a person’s beliefs and behaviors. It provides a way of understanding and predicting how clients will behave about their health and how they will comply with healthcare therapies (Boskey, 2014).
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.
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.
According to the National Eating Disorder Association the media has a major influence on what a woman’s body should look like. Every print and television advertisement suggests that the ideal body is extremely thin. However, most women cannot achieve having a super-thin body that the media favors. The resulting failure leads to negative feelings about one’s self and can begin a downward spiral toward an eating disorder (National Eating Disorders Association).