Models and Theories that Justify Health Behaviour Change

The “Health Belief Model” (HBM) is a psychological model used to justify and explain health behaviors. It considers aspects such as perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy to explain why individuals adopt or neglect health behaviors.
The “Transtheoretical Model” (TTM) or “Stages of Change” model, outlines five stages an individual goes through when changing their health behaviors: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.

-The “Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)” suggests that the intention to perform a behavior is the primary predictor of that behavior. It proposes that an individual’s behavior is determined by their behavioral intent, which in turn, is influenced by their attitude towards the behavior and subjective norms.

The “Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)” extends the TRA by including perceived behavioral control, which refers to a person’s perceived ease or difficulty in performing a behavior.
The “Social Cognitive Theory” emphasizes how cognitive, behavioral, personal, and environmental factors interact to determine motivation and behavior. It highlights the importance of observational learning, self-efficacy, and rewards and punishments as factors influencing behavior.
“The Social-ecological model” explores the interplay between individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and public policy factors that impact health behaviors. This model emphasizes the environment’s role in shaping behavior and recognizes that health behaviors occur within a larger sociocultural context.
The “Diffusion of Innovations theory” investigates how new health behaviors are adopted within a population over time. The five aspects of the model include innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
It’s important to note, many health-related behaviors are complex and difficult to change, and one may need to apply a combination of these theories to effectively promote behavior change in public health.
Understanding and applying these models can help strategists develop effective health promotion policies and campaigns by targeting the right determinants of health behavior.
Differing individual circumstances mean one model might not be universally applicable, but each model provides a theoretical framework to understand and facilitate behavior change in the realm of public health.