Health Belief Model: Condoms and Sexual Risk

Sexual Risk Teen Pregnancy Prevention (Condom)

Section 1- Health Belief Model

The health belief model (HBM) is a psychosocial model that was developed during the 1950’s by social psychologists of the U.S public health services, and this model was used to explain why people failed to participate in disease prevention and detection programs. The theory is one of the most health behavior theories, which is used to explain behavior change and maintenances, but often times used to predict behavior outcome (Glanze, Rimer, & Lewis, 2002).

The key concept of the health belief model includes threat perception (perceived threat), behavioral evaluation, self-efficacy and other variables. The threat perception has very great relevance in health-related behaviors. This perception are measured by perceived susceptibility (the beliefs about the likelihood of contacting a disease) and perceived severity (the feeling about the seriousness of contacting an illness and leaving it untreated). The behavioral evaluation is assessed by the levels of perceived benefits (the positive effects to be expected), perceived barriers (potential negative aspects of a health behavior), and cues to action (the strategies to activated one’s readiness). The self-efficacy key concept was not originally included in of the health belief model, and it was just added in 1998 to look at a person’s belief in his/her ability to take action in order to make a health related change. The other variables that are also the key concepts of the model include diverse demography, sociopsychology, education, and structure. These factors are variable from one to another and indirectly influence an individual’s health-related behavior because the factors influence the perception...

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...s effected by the three parameters, so in this case the health motivation is very high. Therefore, teens are very like to change to use condoms to prevent pregnancy.

References

Glanz, K., Rimer, B.K., Lewis, F.M. (2002). Health behavior and health education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Janz, N. K., & Becker, M. H. (1984). The health belief model: A decade later. Health Education & Behavior, 11(1), 1-47.

United States Census Bureau, 2014. State & country quickfasts. Retrieved from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/21/2108902.html on February 25, 2014.