Our posters where able to attack this way of thinking through showing easy ways in which they could change their lifestyles without too much of a change. A reason why people choose to think it is not affecting them is due to feeling unable to change because of deep habits or just because they cannot be “bothered”. However showing the audience that the NHS does not recommend a lot for a person to live a healthy life so therefore there will not be that much change to their overall lifestyle.
The perceived benefit to take actions is another aspect of the health belief model. This is the second part of the perceived susceptibility. Once they have accepted that they are at a risk from a certain illness they change their behaviour from feeling they are not in risk to accepting and recognising that they do have a chance in getting the health problems. This understanding is created through interventions and educating people that they need to change their train of thought. The posters/ health campaign was able to teach people on how eating healthy and exercising is crucial and that all humans can be affected by health related illness.
Another concept of this model is perceived seriousness. According to Stretch and Armstrong (2011:265) state that ‘perceived seriousness is a form of behaviour where a person beliefs about how a disease or condition would affect them’. This concept shows that some people within a group may think in a whole different way compared to the first concept of perceived susceptibility. Some people believe that the risk of the certain idea is serious and the consequences of developing the condition are undesirable.
These people try to follow health promotion tips. People who assessed our health campaign there was a number of people who did behave in this way and started they already take precautions in staying healthy and fit. However this concept also has a negative aspect of some people becoming fixated on an idea of being free from any health related illness to form. This is impossible in some cases as every human will experience getting a virus or a bug to strengthen their immune system.
Barriers to taking action: this is where an individual wants to follow a certain health action however is being stopped due to barriers that come in the way. The barriers consist of inconvenient, expensive, unpleasant, painful or upsetting. All these barriers closely related to the thoughts of many of our audience. They felt the fruits were good for them however they were a lot more expensive than other foods they would bring. They also felt that they know exercise was good for them however it was time consuming and therefore they did not do any form of physical exercise.
Finally a cue to action. This is where people need encouragement to do a certain task. For example a call to join a fitness group. People sometimes feel that they need to be pushed towards a certain direction to act in a certain way. All 5 aspects fit in a process
Our health campaign followed this health belief model due to many people within society see health and fitness in different ways. Some youngsters feel that they are not affected by the effects of unhealthy eating and lack of exercise however this may affect them in the future times. Whereas many people know that a unhealthy lifestyle is a huge problem however they feel they either need to be pushed to achieve a goal or cannot see the end result . Within our audience it was clear to see that there was a difference in view points and all the aspects of the health belief model where covered.
Through creating our small scale campaign interlinked with the health belief model it was easy for us to understand and see what individuals where thinking and easy ways in changing their behaviours and understanding about living a healthy lifestyle. For example people who behaved in a way of being perceived to susceptibility in other words people who do not feel affected by the issue due to them not yet have the problems. We were able to change their way of thinking and behaving through the acceptance of perceived benefits. This is where we would educate them and change their train of thought.
The health belief model has proven to be the most effective approach in helping us carries out our health campaign because it was easy to pin point and change behaviours. Whereas other health belief models such as the social learning theory are not as productive to be used within our small scale health campaign.
The social learning theory follows three different accepts that are believed to determine a person’s behaviour. Cognitive, environmental, behavioural factors. This approach fits very closely to the actions people take in relation to health. As the environment and social context do have a big responsibility in shaping peoples behaviours. However there are also genetic aspects that need to be evaluated within health. Therefore this health model did not fulfil all the criterions need to justify the proposed act.
The social learning theory is also very vague on explaining the difference within people. For example there may be a number of individuals living under the same roof however they may all have a different way of thinking in relation to health.
But this theory does promote the learning of individuals through observation. Which again is recurrently seen in health education? Through the media and other forms of information people are able to observe and gather information on how to behave in certain situations. For example if the media is constantly showing chocolate as a natural method of relation more people will choose to buy the product without thinking about the other problems it may be causing to their health. Lastly this theory has a fault of emphasising too much on observations and environmental learning that it forgets the adaptations and physiological developments of the younger/ newer generations.
The next health model that is believed to record and assess person behaviour in regards to health is the theory of reasoned action. This theory is linked between attitude and behaviour. The theory states that attitude toward behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, together shape an individual's behavioural intentions and behaviours. When a person carries clear intentions to act on a certain act they are 100% likely to do that task. But the individual needs to have the right attitude and behaviour to be able to create good intentions. For example if an individual wants to lose weight through health promotions such as our posters the individual would have clear attitude towards losing weight however their behaviour may not conduct in the same way. For example the individual may act lazy or may be too busy therefore not having intentions from both aspects of behaviour and attitude.
Health is a goal that every individual wants to achieve. This theory creates an understanding that people need to make intentions to be able to get a clear understanding on what they want to achieve. This theory falls on an understanding that there are three forms of human behaviour. Behavioural beliefs, this is where an individual favourable or unfavourable attitude toward a behaviour. Normative beliefs, similar to the social learning theory this is where people behave in a certain way due to social influence.
Finally control beliefs. Control refers to the ability to influence what is happening or what will happen. Beliefs about control in the context of health refer to the thoughts (or cognitions) an individual has regarding the ability to influence health behaviour, health status (or other health outcomes), or health care. Control beliefs are one of a number of determinants of health behaviour and health outcomes. A person's health status can be influenced by and can influence his or her control beliefs. Individuals who believe they have control over their health behaviour are more likely to engage in healthy behaviour; thus, they are more likely to have better health outcomes. Better health outcomes are associated with more positive control beliefs.
This theory may seem to fit the behaviour of individuals when assessing health campaigns. However the theory of planned behaviour is based on cognitive processing and level of behaviour change. This overlooks emotional variables such as threat, fear, mood and negative or positive feeling and assessed them in a limited fashion all of which are considered in the health belief model.
According to (Dutta-Bergman, 2005) health-related behaviour situation, given that most individuals' health behaviours are influenced by their personal emotion and affect-laden nature for example choosing to quit smoking so that the individual will not die at an early age and can watch his/ her children grow old. According to the University of Glasgow research also shows that intentions may be a human’s drive in life however they may not follow through as accurately as persuade.
Another health model that did not reach our groups approval in justifying peoples behaves in relation to our health campaign was the Stage of change theory. This theory that is widely accepted and routinely used in many health related settings. There are 5 main stages of this theory. Pre- contemplation, this is where a person is most unaware of the problems they are having. For example an individual deeply stuck within an eating disorder. There is no intention for the person to change their behaviour in the foreseeable future. Contemplation, this is where people make the intentions to change however they do not commit and therefore unable to act on their intentions. Preparation, this is where individual intended to take action in the next couple of months and have unsuccessfully taken action in the past years. This form of behaviour is seen within health a lot. In regards to losing weight. “I’m going to start my diet next week.” This statement is said often and people prepare to act in the future. Action, this is where the individual modifies and understands their behaviour, environment and experience in order to overcome their problem. Finally maintenance, people work to prevent relapse and consolidate the gains made during this action. This model is usually illustrated in a wheel to represent the constant cycle of going back to the start and trying to maintain their end gaol rather then going back around.
This theory does closely link to the health belief model however research has shown that some people do not follow this cycle and people with self-efficiency are able to skip certain stages and action the action they want. This theory is also seen as a form of predication rather than accuracy in a person’s behaviour in health matters.
Cochrane’s review of this model in relation to weight loss proved that the stage of change model was ineffective even though there was a loss in weight it was very minimal and also the weight loss was not sustainable. The review of this research proved that more then on intervention needs to be in place for individual to be able to reach a potential goal in relation to health and overall life.
All the health models will have their strengths and weakness. They all state ways in which people, act, behave, react and attitude that enable them to make important decisions about there health. The public health online: 2009 have stated that the four models mentioned above are the most used in determining societies ways of acknowledging health education campaigns. In relation to our small scale health campaign we as a group close to follow the health belief model due to it being able to cover all the aspects from people wanting to change but not having the motivation or people who could not see they need to change. Overall seeing that a majority of individuals do need a cue to action a forceful push that helps them on achieving there goals and intentions.
Overall four health models have been justified and evaluated in whether they are able to explain the way people behave. Looking at the reaction we got from our posters the health belief model relates the most in terms of the comments we received from our audience. Health education will also be seen within society and all the health models fit within each other as human behave and choose to follow different oaths however they are all able to achieve the same gaols.
Bibliography
Edexcel (2011) unit 20 (online) available at: accessed 23/01/2013
University of South Alabama (2003) social learning theory (online) available at: accessed 23/01/2013
K. A Wallston (1992) control beliefs (online) available at: accessed 23/01/2013
McAleer P University of Glasgow (2006) human motion (online) available at: accessed 23/01/2014
Briggs .H (2011) Weight loss plan 'lacks evidence' (online) available at: accessed 23/01/2012
Public health agency’s (2009) health belief models (online) available at: accessed 23/01/2012
Cochrane library (2011) stages of theory (online) available at; accessed 23/01/2012
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