* Health belief-model

Iram Abbas (Clinical Psychologist)

Lecturer Applied psychology GCUF.
 * The Health Belief Model (HBM)

The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a

psychological model that attempts to
explain and predict health behavior by
focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of
individuals.
 concept 

* The underlying concept of the original health

belief model is that health behavior is
determined by personal beliefs or perception
about a disease and strategies available to
decrease its occurrence.
HBM is a good model for addressing
problem behaviors that evoke health
concerns (e.g., high-risk sexual behaviour
and the possibility of contracting HIV). Since
then, the HBM has been adapted to explore
a variety of long- and short-term health
behaviors, including sexual risk behaviors
and the transmission of HIV/AIDS.
 The Health Belief Model is a framework
for motivating people to take positive
health actions that uses the desire to
avoid a negative health consequence
as the prime motivation.
*1: For example, HIV is a negative health
consequence, and the desire to avoid HIV
can be used to motivate sexually active
people into practicing safe sex.
2: Similarly, the perceived threat of a heart
attack can be used to motivate a person
with high blood pressure into exercising
more often.
3: For example Corona virus preventive
measures such as wearing masks, social
distancing, hand washing etc.
*It's important to note that avoiding a
negative health consequence is a key
element of the HBM. For example, a
person might increase exercise to
look good and feel better. That
example does not fit the model
because the person is not motivated
by a negative health outcome — even
though the health action of getting
more exercise is the same as for the
person who wants to avoid a heart
attack.
 * COMPONENTS OF HEALTH BELIEF MODEL:

1: Perceived Susceptibility:
2: Perceived Severity:
3: Perceived benefits:
4: Perceived barriers:
5: Cues to action:
6: Self-efficacy:
1: Perceived Susceptibility:
refers to a person’s perception that a health
problem is personally relevant or that a
diagnosis of illness is accurate.
*Perceived susceptibility refers to subjective assessment of risk
of developing a health problem.
*The HBM predicts that individuals who perceive that they are
susceptible to a particular health problem will engage in
behaviors to reduce their risk of developing the health problem.
*Individuals with low perceived susceptibility may deny that they
are at risk for contracting a particular illness.
*Others may acknowledge the possibility that they could develop
the illness, but believe it is unlikely.
* Individuals who believe they are at low risk of developing an
illness are more likely to engage in unhealthy, or risky,
behaviors.
*Individuals who perceive a high risk that they will be personally
affected by a particular health problem are more likely to
engage in behaviors to decrease their risk of developing the
condition.
2: Perceived severity refers to the subjective
assessment of the severity of a health problem and
its potential consequences.
The HBM proposes that individuals who perceive a
given health problem as serious are more likely to
engage in behaviors to prevent the health problem
from occurring (or reduce its severity).
i: Perceived seriousness encompasses beliefs about
the disease itself (e.g., whether it is life-threatening
or may cause disability or pain) as well as broader
impacts of the disease on functioning in work and
social roles. For instance, an individual may
perceive that Fever is not medically serious, but if
he or she perceives that there would be serious
financial consequences as a result of being absent
from work for several days, then he or she may
perceive  Fever to be a particularly serious
condition.
* The combination of perceived severity and
perceived susceptibility
is referred to as perceived threat. Perceived severity
and perceived susceptibility to a given health condition
depend on knowledge about the condition. The HBM
predicts that higher perceived threat leads to a higher
likelihood of engagement in health-promoting
behaviors
3: Perceived benefits - This refers to a person's
perception of the effectiveness of various actions
available to reduce the threat of illness or
disease (or to cure illness or disease).
The course of action a person takes in preventing
(or curing) illness or disease relies on
consideration and evaluation of both perceived
susceptibility and perceived benefit, such that
the person would accept the recommended
health action if it was perceived as beneficial.
4: Perceived barriers .
This refers to a person's feelings on the obstacles
to performing a recommended health action.
There is wide variation in a person's feelings of
barriers, or impediments, which lead to a
cost/benefit analysis. The person weighs the
effectiveness of the actions against the
perceptions that it may be expensive, dangerous
(e.g., side effects), unpleasant (e.g., painful),
time-consuming, or inconvenient.
5: Cue to action - This is the stimulus needed to
trigger the decision-making process to accept a
recommended health action. These cues can be
internal (e.g., chest pains, wheezing, etc.) or
external (e.g., advice from others, illness of
family member, newspaper article, etc.).
6: Self-efficacy - This refers to the level of a
person's confidence in his or her ability to
successfully perform a behavior. This construct
was added to the model most recently in mid-
1980. Self-efficacy is a construct in many
behavioral theories as it directly relates to
whether a person performs the desired behavior.
 Concept Definition Application
1. Perceived One's belief of the •Define population(s) at risk and
Susceptibility chances of getting a their risk levels
condition

•Personalize risk based on a

person's traits or behaviors

•Heighten perceived susceptibility

if too low
2. Perceived One's belief of how •Specify and describe
Severity serious a condition and consequences of the risk and the
its consequences are condition
3. Perceived One's belief in the •Define action to take — how,
Benefits efficacy of the advised where, when
action to reduce risk or
seriousness of impact
•Clarify the positive effects to
expected
Describe evidence of
effectiveness
 Concept Definition Application
4. Perceived One's belief in the •Identify and reduce barriers
Barriers tangible and through reassurance, incentives,
psychological costs of the and assistance
advised behavior

5. Cues to Action Strategies to activate •Provide how-to information

"readiness"

•Promote awareness

•Provide reminders

6. Self-Efficacy Confidence in one's ability •Provide training, guidance, and

to take action positive reinforcement
 * Limitations of Health Belief Model

* There are several limitations of the HBM which limit its utility in public
health. Limitations of the model include the following:
1:It does not account for a person's attitudes, beliefs, or other individual
determinants that dictate a person's acceptance of a health behavior.
2: It does not take into account behaviors that are habitual and thus may
inform the decision-making process to accept a recommended action
(e.g., smoking).
3: It does not take into account behaviors that are performed for non-
health related reasons such as social acceptability.
4: It does not account for environmental or economic factors that may
prohibit or promote the recommended action.
5: It assumes that everyone has access to equal amounts of information
on the illness or disease.
6: It assumes that cues to action are widely prevalent in encouraging
people to act and that "health" actions are the main goal in the decision-
making process.