Theories of Health Belief

Health belief Model - Becker 

Locus of Control - Rotter

Self-efficacy - Bandura & Adams

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Theories of Health Belief; Health Belief Model - B

  •  1. What is the theory behind Becker's Health Belief Model?
  •  2. What other factors does it take into account?
  •  3. Describe the method in Becker?
  •  4. What were the findings/conclusions in Becker?
  •  5. What are some possible evaluation points for Becker? 
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Theories of Health Belief; Health Belief Model - B

  • Central to the model is the perceived seriousness and susceptibility of the risk. 
  • Age, gender & personality as well as cost benefits analysis
  • Correlational study between belief reported during interview and self-reported compliance to administration of asthma medication. Some also given blood test to test validity of mother's responses.
  • Positive correlation between mothers' belief about susceptibility of child to asthma and administration of medication. The costs which negatively correlated with compliance were disruption to daily activities and inaccessibility of chemist and child complaining about the medication. The Health Belief Model therefore appears to be a useful model to help predict adherence to a medical regime. 
  • 1. Holistic not Reductionist as multi-faceted model 2. Freewill - suggest level of control as we weigh up cost and benefits - so not Determinist 3. Correlational study so cannot infer cause and effect 4. Self-report methods - validity issues with Demand Characteristics and Social Desirability Bias BUT concurrent validity tested with some patients being given blood tests - physiological to test validity of mothers' answers
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Theories of Health Belief; Locus of Control - Rott

  • What is the theory behind Rotter?
  • What was the method in Rotter? 
  • What were the findings/conclusions in Rotter?
  • What are some possible evaluation points for Rotter? 
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Theories of Health Belief; Locus of Control - Rott

  • Internal locus of control - belief that you have control over your own behaviour, External locus of control - belief that you do not have control e.g. belief in destiny 
  • Review article - initially 6 studies reviewed 
  • Participants with an internal locus of control were more able to show behaviours that would enable them to cope with potential threat than those with an external locus of control. 
  • Reductionist - too simplistic, does not look at other factors, Determinist - health belief determined by our locus of control, does not look at free will 
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Theories of Health Belief; Self-efficacy - Bandura

  • What is the theory behind Bandura & Adams? 
  • What factors influence self-efficacy?
  • What was the method in Bandura & Adams? 
  • What were the findings/conclusions in Bandura & Adams?
  • How does desensitisation work?
  • What are some possible evaluation points of Bandura & Adams?
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Theories of Health Belief; Self-efficacy - Bandura

  • Self-efficacy is our belief about how we can perform in a particular situation
  • We decide on our level of competence because of how we perform in other aspects of life, observation and performance of others, social persuasion, self-persuasion, monitoring our emotional state.
  • Controlled quasi experiment - patients with snake phobia who were receiving desensitisation therapy. Patients were pre and post-tested for avoidance behaviours and asked for an oral rating of fear arousal and their self-efficacy of what they would be able to do with snakes.
  • Higher levels of post-test self-efficacy found to correlate with higher levels of interaction with snakes. Desensitisation appeared to enhance self-efficacy. 
  • Desensitisation works on the principles of classical conditioning and gradually introduces the patient to the subject of their phobia paired with relaxation techniques. 
  • Linked to behaviourist perspective, good to help people change their behaviour, emphasis on Scientific and objective experiments, doesn't focus on cognition so doesn't give full explanation behind people's behaviour, cure over prevention. Nature v Nurture. Environmental determinism - behaviour determined by conditioning, correlational results so cannot infer cause and effect. 
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