Discussion – The Health Belief Model (HBM)

Discussion – The Health Belief Model (HBM)

A Health Promotion Model Used To Initiate Behavioral Changes

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2017), health promotion is the process through which people are encouraged to take full control over their health with the sole objective of improving their health status. The Health Belief Model is a promotion model that moves beyond a focus on individual behavior and incorporates a wide range of factors that impact the quality of health of an individual (Jones, Jensen, Scherr, et al., 2015). Consequently, a health promotion model that would initiate effective behavioral change in an individual must encompass both environmental and social interventions.

The Health Belief Model (HBM) is the preferred health promotion model in this case because it initiates behavioral changes using health promotional strategies that rely on lifestyle change using a combination of strategies that increase individual health awareness, promote behavior change, and creates an environment that encourages good health practices (Murdaugh et al., 2018). The health promotion model must also be capable of improving the productivity of an individual, increasing physical energy, and supporting the accomplishment of personal and professional development goals.

How the Health Belief Model (HBM) Helps in Teaching Behavioral Changes

According to Jones et al. (2015), the Health Belief Model (HBM) teaches behavioral change using six theoretical concepts that help a health promoter to predict the health behavior of an individual. These six concepts include the assessment of the susceptibility to health risks in an individual, the assessment of the severity of the health risks in an individual, and the evaluation of the benefits attributed to health promotion actions to an individual. The other theoretical concept of The Health Belief Model (HBM) is the evaluation of the potential barriers to healthy behavioral change action, ascertaining the level of self-efficacy of an individual, and the cues to action towards embracing the behavioral changes.

Murdaugh et al. (2018) note that the Health Belief Model is one of the most widely applied health promotion change models to promote health behavior change among individuals. Essentially, the HBM will teach behavior changes by clarifying the probability of the individual embracing the health behaviors and predicting the level of preparedness in the patient to accept behavior change. This information enables the health care team can ascertain the factors that determine the adherence to behavior change instructions to prevent any possible barriers to the behavior change process and achieve success. Also, the healthcare team would use this information to identify the best behavior changes that resonate well with an individual so that it is used to design an optimal plan for the behavior change process.

Some of the Barriers that Affect a Patient’s Ability to Learn

During the process of initiating behavior change in a patient, several factors come into play that may become barriers to the patient’s ability to learn to change behavior. Among the barriers to a patient’s learning ability are the patient’s cultural background, socioeconomic status, level of education, and access to health care. These barriers must be carefully considered when implementing patient education to initiate behavior change. Consequently, there is a need for the healthcare team to act as patient educators to familiarize themselves with the most appropriate learning style that best suits the nature and needs of each patient. (Jones, Jensen, Scherr, et al., 2015). Also, the patient’s ability to learn may be affected by barriers attributed to the patient’s physical condition, such as limited vision and impaired auditory function, level of alertness, mobility, mental capacity, and emotional and physical pain.

How a Patient’s Readiness to Learn/Readiness to Change affects Learning Outcomes

The outcomes of the learning process are highly dependent on the readiness of the patient to learn and embrace the behavior change ideas. This is because the patient’s readiness to learn would determine the magnitude and nature of barriers that may hinder effective learning and behavior change processes (Murdaugh et al., 2018). Therefore, a patient who is ready to learn and embrace the behavior changes will remain positive to the entire behavior change and learning process, thus leading to an effective outcome. On the other hand, a patient who is not ready to learn or embrace behavior change will create several barriers to the learning and behavior change process, thus leading to negative or poor outcomes.

References

Jones, C. L., Jensen, J. D., Scherr, C. L., Brown, N. R., Christy, K., & Weaver, J. (2015). The health belief model as an explanatory framework in communication research: exploring parallel, serial, and moderated mediation. Health Communication, 30(6), 566-576.

Murdaugh, C. L., Parsons, M. A., & Pender, N. J. (2018). Health promotion in nursing practice. Pearson Education Canada.

World Health Organization. (2017, October). Health Promotion. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/topics/health_promotion/en/

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Discussion – The Health Belief Model (HBM)

Describe a health promotion model used to initiate behavioral changes. How does this model help in teaching behavioral changes?

A Health Promotion Model Used To Initiate Behavioral Changes

What are some of the barriers that affect a patient’s ability to learn? How does a patient’s readiness to learn, or readiness to change, affect learning outcomes?