Health Belief Model And Theory Of Planned Behavior

A health educator benefits from using a theoretical framework when designing a health promotion program for numerous reasons. Two reasons are that theories serve as a guide for programs and interventions and they also help us reach goals and understand human behavior.
First, a theoretical framework should be used to provide guidance for a program or intervention as it helps to develop measurable objectives and to choose the best strategies and methods for certain populations and health behaviors. For example, if a health educator wants to help a person or group lose weight, a theoretical framework will help to organize necessary steps and objectives that will be most effective with that certain person or group. For theories such as Health
Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior the person’s perceptions of their body weight and well-being is important to determine the best approach to helping a health educator develop the best steps to lose weight through dieting and exercising to eliminate barriers by providing resources or helping them gain control over their weight. A theory or model provides constructs or steps to outline specific information about a participant’s perceptions and feelings about a behavior change as well as guide them toward their ultimate goal.
Second, health educators should use a theoretical framework to better understand human behavior and strive for program goals. Theories help to explain why a behavior occurs and provides a framework to progress towards change. To develop an intervention for smokers, a health educator must consider how deeply seeded the behavior is and a theory such as the Transtheoretical Model can help to separate a group of smokers into their individual stage of change they could fit into to lead them to quit smoking. Out of a group of smokers, for instance, some may not see that smoking is an issue (precontemplation), a large portion realizes that smoking is a problem and want to quit (contemplation), others are calling a hotline number or planning alternate activities to do when they feel the urge to smoke (planning), and a few have taken action with nicotine patches and joining a support group (action) to carry that on for more than 6 months (maintenance). The Health Belief Model is also useful to understand a person’s perceptions of their behavior and how it might impact their health. By breaking this behavior down and assessing a smoker’s perceptions of their behaviors helps a health educator understand the person’s behavior and set appropriate goals based on their individual needs.

2 The Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior are similar in many ways, but also have great differences which makes each model necessary to consider when applying a theoretical framework to a health behavior. The similarities will be addressed first and then transition into the differences each theory provides. Aside from the numerous similarities amongst the constructs in each theory, both the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior are quite similar in their purpose and goals.
To start, both are considered cognitive theories. The emphasis behind an individuals’ thoughts about a behavior are a large focus of these theories and less focused on the more tangible behavior changes. For example, the end result of studies using the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior offer a unique perspective into how a person perceives a certain behavior change versus putting that individual into action as the Transtheoretical Model demonstrates by guiding a person through stages to lead to actual behavior
change. Another similarity is that in both theories, barriers play a large role in preventing an individual from performing a certain behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior discusses the perception a person has about their control over their behaviors and the Health Belief Model addressed the barriers more directly through the construct of perceived barriers. Barriers are huge reasons why people are unable to make behavior changes, as it becomes difficult to overcome an obstacle to better health or facing numerous barriers causes a person to give up. When wanting to lose weight, for instance, some common barriers are lack of knowledge about fitness and losing weight, access to a gym or equipment, and money for healthier food or gym memberships. By addressing this concern, it helps to create a better understanding of how to help people make changes by boosting confidence through eliminating those barriers.
The Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior both want to predict behavior, however one of the bigger difference between the two theories is that the Health Belief Model aims to directly predict an individual’s behavior while the Theory of Planned Behavior focuses on the intentions of the individual to perform that behavior. There is a difference between having the intention to wear a seat belt whenever riding in a car and actually wearing the seat belt, which is what the Theory of Planned Behavior includes, but the Health Belief Model provides a more direct pathway.
Another difference is that the Health Belief Model considers demographic factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and education level to be modifying influences on a person’s health beliefs.
The Theory of Planned Behavior has demographic factors included as an external variable in the model but does not suggest that these factors directly contribute to a behavior. For example, when studying breast cancer and the behavior of getting a mammogram screening, the Health Belief Model would consider a person’s education status to be influential in determining if a woman is likely to get a mammogram. A low education level could indicate that there is not enough knowledge about breast cancer or why it’s necessary to be proactive in getting screened therefore changing the approach for that individual. The Theory of Planned Behavior would say the same, yet it would serve more as an external barrier and influence with less importance to the other
constructs.
Lastly, another great underlying difference is that Health Belief Model focuses only on the individual’s perception of their health and the behavior, whereas the Theory of Planned behavior considers the perceptions of other’s such as friends, family, and their society through subjective norms. The Health Belief model only wants to know about the individual, but the Theory of Planned Behavior wants to know what an individual thinks about other people’s perceptions. For example, according to the Theory of Planned Behavior, a person would be asked to consider what a family member or significant other thinks about their health behavior and the Health Belief Model would only focus on the individual’s personal thoughts about themselves. According to this theory, the outside perceptions bring in the aspects of social pressures to act a certain way either for or against a certain behavior which affects the likelihood of them performing the behavior or not. Through the many similarities and differences, both the Health Belief Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior are useful for many health behaviors. It all just depends on the way a health educator wants to approach a behavior change.