Health Belief Model

The Health Belief Model was a psychological model developed in the 1950s for studying and promoting the uptake of services offered by social psychologists. Subsequent amendments to the model were made as late as 1988, to accommodate evolving evidence generated within the health community about the role that knowledge and perceptions play in personal responsibility.

Constructs

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The Health Belief Model.

The original Health Belief Model, constructed by Rosenstock (1966), was based on four constructs:

• Perceived susceptibility (an individual's assessment of their risk of getting the condition)
• Perceived severity (an individual's assessment of the seriousness of the condition, and its potential consequences)
• Perceived barriers (an individual's assessment of the influences that facilitate or discourage adoption of the promoted behavior)
• Perceived benefits (an individual's assessment of the positive consequences of adopting the behavior).

Two constructs were later added:

• Perceived efficacy (an individual's self-assessment of ability to successfully adopt the desired behavior)
• Cues to action (external influences promoting the desired behavior)