Health and life

The HBM has been criticized for these conflicting results. It has also been criticized for several other weaknesses, including the following:
■ its focus on the conscious processing of information (for example, is tooth-brushing really determined by weighing up the pros and cons?)
■ its emphasis on the individual (for example, what role does the social and economic environment play?)
■ the interrelationship between the different core beliefs (for example, how should these be measured and how should they be related to each other? Is the model linear or multifactorial?)
■ the absence of a role for emotional factors such as fear and denial
■ it has been suggested that alternative factors may predict health behaviour, such as outcome expectancy and self-efficacy (Seydel et al. 1990; Schwarzer 1992)
■ Schwarzer (1992) has further criticized the HBM for its static approach to health beliefs and suggests that within the HBM, beliefs are described as occurring simultaneously with no room for change, development or process
■ Leventhal et al. (1985) have argued that health-related behaviour is due to the perception of symptoms rather than to the individual factors as suggested by the HBM.
Although there is much contradiction in the literature surrounding the HBM, research has used aspects of this model to predict screening for hypertension, screening for cervical cancer, genetic screening, exercise behaviour, decreased alcohol use, changes in diet and smoking cessation.