June 29th, 2009 Several studies support the predictions of the HBM. Research indicates that dietary compliance, safe sex, having vaccinations, making regular dental visits and taking part in regular exercise programmes are related to the individual’s perception of susceptibility to the related health problem, to their belief that the problem is severe and their perception that the benefits [...]
June 29th, 2009 Central to unrealistic optimism is the notion of risk perception and the proposal that individuals can process risk information in ways that enables them to continue their unhealthy behaviour. In fact research suggests that those least persuaded by risk data are often those most at risk (Sherman et al. 2000). An example of this is [...]
June 28th, 2009 Weinstein (1983, 1984) suggested that one of the reasons that people continue to practise unhealthy behaviours is due to inaccurate perceptions of risk and susceptibility – their unrealistic optimism. He asked subjects to examine a list of health problems and to state ‘compared to other people of your age and sex, what are your chances [...]
June 25th, 2009 The internal versus external dimension of attribution theory has been specifically applied to health in terms of the concept of a health locus of control. Individuals differ as to whether they tend to regard events as controllable by them (an internal locus of control) or uncontrollable by them (an external locus of control). Wallston and [...]
June 20th, 2009 Attribution theory has been applied to the study of health and health-related behaviour. Herzlich (1973) interviewed 80 people about the general causes of health and illness and found that health is regarded as internal to the individual and illness is seen as something that comes into the body from the external world.
More specifically, attributions about [...]
June 15th, 2009 The origins of attribution theory can be found in the work of Heider (1944, 1958), who argued that individuals are motivated to see their social world as predictable and controllable – that is, a need to understand causality. Kelley (1967, 1971) developed these original ideas and proposed a clearly defined attribution theory suggesting that attributions [...]
June 10th, 2009 Much research has used quantitative methods to explore and predict health behaviours. For example, Kristiansen (1985) carried out a correlational study looking at the seven health behaviours defined by Belloc and Breslow (1972) and their relationship to a set of beliefs. She reported that these seven health behaviours were correlated with (1) a high value [...]
June 5th, 2009 Belloc and Breslow (1972), Belloc (1973) and Breslow and Enstrom (1980) examined the relationship between mortality rates and behaviour among 7000 people. They concluded from this correlational analysis that seven behaviours were related to health status. These behaviours were:
1 Sleeping 7–8 hours a day.
2 Having breakfast every day.
3 Not smoking.
4 Rarely eating between meals.
5 Being [...]