UNIT TWO

Health And Human Behaviour

Objectives
At the end of this chapter, the student are
expected to:
 Define behavior and related terms
Basic causes of human behavior
 Describe the factors which affect human
behavior

12/17/2019 EAU Hamda 1

 Con.
 Discuss on the role of human behavior in
prevention of disease and promotion of
health
Changes in behavior
Principles of learning according to
behavior modes
 Introduction

In the previous chapter, we have discuss the concept of

health and health education. Human behavior is among
the major determinants of the health of individuals,
families or communities.

Healthy behaviors contribute to the overall health of

individuals and communities and unhealthy behaviors
adversely affect the quality of life people at different
levels.
The promotion of health and prevention of diseases will
usually involve some changes in life styles or human
behavior.
 Define behavior and related terms

• Behavior: is an action that has a specific

frequency, duration and purpose whether
conscious or unconscious. It is what we
“do” and how we “act”. People stay healthy
or become ill, often as a result of their own
action or behavior.
 Cont.
The following are examples of how
people’s actions can affect their health:-
Using mosquito nets and insect sprays
helps to keep mosquito away.
Feeding children with bottle put them at
risk of diarrhea.
 Cont…..
Defecating in an open field will lead
to parasitic infection.

In health education it is very important to

be able to identify the practices that
cause, cure, or prevent a problem.
 Cont.
• The words actions, practices and
behaviors are different words of the same
thing.
Life style: refers to the collection of
behaviors that make up a person’s way of
life-including diet, clothing, family life,
housing and work.
 Cont.
Customs: It represents the group
behavior. It is the pattern of action shared
by some or all members of the society.
Traditions: are behaviors that have been
carried out for a long time and handed
down from parents to children
 Cont.
Culture: is the whole complex of
knowledge, attitude, norms, beliefs,
values, habits, customs, traditions and
any other capabilities and skills acquired
by man as a member of society.
 Distinguishing characteristics of
culture

 Culture is symbolic. It is an abstract way of

referring to, and understanding ideas,
objects, feelings or behavior –the ability
to communicate with symbols using
language.
 Cont.
To suggest new ideas people may invent
single words to represent many different
ideas, feelings or values.
Culture is shared. People in the same
society share common behavior patterns
and ways of thinking through culture.
 Cont.
For example people living in a society
share the same language, dress in similar
styles, eat much of the same food and
celebrate many of the same holidays.

Culture is learned. A person must learn

culture from other people in a society.
 Cont.
For instance, people must learn to speak
and understand a language and to abide
by the rules of a society.
Culture is adaptive. People use culture to
adjust flexibly and quickly to changes in
the world around them.
 Cont.
• For instance a person can adjust his diet
when he changes an area of residence.
 Examples of behaviors promoting
health and preventing diseases

Healthy behaviors: - actions that healthy

people undertake to keep themselves or
others healthy and prevent disease. Good
nutrition, breast feeding, reduction of
health damaging behaviors like smoking
are examples of healthy behaviors
 Cont.
• Utilization behavior: - utilization of health
services such as antenatal care, child health,
immunization, family planning…etc
• Illness behavior: - recognition of early
symptoms and prompt self referral for
treatment
 Cont.
Compliance behaviors: - following a course
of prescribed drugs such as for
tuberculosis.
Rehabilitation behaviors: - what people
need to do after a serious illness to
prevent further disability
 cont.
Community action: - actions by individuals
and groups to change and improve their
surroundings to meet special needs.
Basic causes of human behavior

Family
Gender
Policy
Roles

Culture
Services
religion
Individual

Media Income

Community
Social
Status
 Factors affecting human behaviour

1. Predisposing factors: provide the rationale

or motivation for the
behavior to occur. Some of these are:
 Knowledge
Belief
 Attitudes
 Values
 Cont.
Knowledge is knowing things, objects,
events, persons, situations and everything
in the universe. It is the collection and
storage of information or experience. It
often comes from experience. We also
gain knowledge through information
 Cont.
• provided by teachers, parents, friends,
books, newspapers, etc…
• E.g. knowledge about methods of
prevention of HIV
 Cont.
• Belief is a confidence that a event or
object is true or real. Beliefs deal with
people’s understanding of themselves and
their environment. People usually do not
know whether what they believe is true or
false.
 Cont.
They are usually derived from our parents,
grandparents, and other people we respect
Beliefs may be helpful, harmful or
neutral. If it is not certain that a belief is
harmful, it is better to leave it a lone. For
example, a certain society may have the
following beliefs:
 Cont.
Holding materials made of iron by
mothers during postpartum (Neutral)
 Diarrhea may end up with death
(helpful)
 Measles can not be prevented by
immunization (harmful)
 Cont.
• Attitudes are relatively constant feelings,
predispositions or set of beliefs directed
towards an object, person or situation.
They are evaluative feelings and reflect
our likes and dislikes. They often come
from our experiences or from those of
people close to us. They either attract us
to things, or make wary of them.
 Cont.
• Values are broad ideas and widely held
assumptions regarding what are desirable,
correct and good that most members of a
society share.
• Values are so general and abstract that
they do not clearly specify which
behaviors are acceptable and which are
not.
 Cont.
Instead, values provide us with criteria and
conceptions by which we evaluate people,
objects and events as their relative
importance or beauty .
• Norms: are social rules that specify
appropriate and inappropriate behavior in
given situations. They tell us what we should
and must do as well as what we should not
and must not do.
 Cont.
• 2. Enabling factors: these are
characteristics of the environment That
facilitates healthy behavior and any skill
or resource required to attain the
behavior.
• Enabling factors are required for a
motivation to be realized.
 Cont.
E.g. Enabling factors for a mother to
give oral rehydration solution to her
child with diarrhea would be:
 Time, container, salt, sugar
 Knowledge on how to prepare and
administer it
 Cont.
• 3. Reinforcing factors: these factors come following to
the behavior. They are important for persistence or
repetition of the behavior. The most important
reinforcing factors for a behavior to occur or avoid
include:
 Family
 Peers, teachers
 Employers, health providers
 Community leaders
 Decision makers
 The role of human behavior in
prevention of disease and
promotion of health
What is prevention?
Prevention is defined as the planning for and the
measures taken to forestall the onset of a
disease or other health problem
before the occurrence of undesirable health
events.
 Levels of prevention of disease

• Primary prevention is comprised of

those activities carried out to keep people
healthy and prevent them from getting
disease.
• Secondary prevention includes
preventive measures that lead to an early
diagnosis and prompt treatment of a
problem before it becomes serious.
 Cont.
• Tertiary prevention seeks to limit disability
or complication arising from an
irreversible condition. Even at this stage
actions and behaviors of the patient are
essential. The use of disability aids and
rehabilitation services help people from
further deterioration and loss of function.
 Changes in behavior
• comprehensive process in which one
passes through the stages of:
Unaware
 Aware
Concerned
 Knowledgeable
 Motivated to change
Practicing trial behavior change
Sustained behavior change
Yet when it comes to changing behaviour……

we all behave and see others

behave ….
and have our own theories about
how to change behaviour …
BUT they can be wrong!

There is a science of behaviour change

but it is not always applied…
Different terms used for behaviour
change

– Strategic Behavioral Communication (SBC)

– Information, Education, Communication (IEC)

– Communication for Social Change (CSC)

– Behaviour change communication (BCC)

 Strategic behavioral communication
(SBC

Strategic behavioral communication (SBC) is

an interactive process with individuals and
communities to develop adapted
communication strategies, messages and
approaches using a combine of
communication channels and interventions
 Cont.
• to promote healthier behaviors and support
individual, community and group behavior
change.
SBC supports research’s complete field of
HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment and
support interventions with strategic
communication.
 Information, Education, Communication
(IEC)

• information Education and Communication is

an approach which attempts to change or
reinforce a set of behavior in a target audience
regarding a specific problem in a predefined
period of time.
 Cont.
• Communication for Social
Change (CSC)Communication for
development is an emerging limit, the goal of
which is to use communication processes,
techniques and media to facilitate social,
economic and technological development.
Behaviour change communication (BCC)

• BCC is an interactive process with communities (as

integrated with an overall program) to develop
adapted messages and approaches using a variety of
communication channels to develop positive
behaviors; promote and sustain individual,
community and Social behavior change; and
maintain appropriate behaviors.
 Steps in Developing Behaviour
Change Communication
1. State program goals
2. Involve stakeholders
3. Identify target populations
4. Conduct formative BCC assessments
5. Segment target populations
6. Define behavior change objectives
7. Define BCC strategy and M&E plan
8. Develop communication products
9. Pretest
10. Implement and monitor
11. Evaluate
12. Analyze feedback and revise
 Principles of learning according to
behavior modes

• 1 . Social change
• 2. policy development and implementation
• 3. improving health skills
• 4. enhancing quality of life
• 5. Community motivating
• 6. community participating
Stepped approach to change

A journey of a thousand
miles begins with a single step
 Intervention

Step 3: How are we going

to get them to do it?
Intervention design

Step 2: What will it take them to

do it? Behavioural analysis and
diagnosis

Step 1: What do we want the person /

group of people to do? Specify behaviour
The End…..
Thank you