4. Theories & Models of Health Behaviour Flashcards
The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1985) is a social-cognitive theory used to predict behaviour by
linking it to an individual’s attitudes and beliefs.
TPB is an extension of Ajzen and Fishbein’s (1980) Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), which argues that
a person’s intention to perform a behaviour is a direct antecedent to behaviour
the components of the TRA model are as follows
Behavioural intentions
Attitudes
Subjective norms
Behavioural intentions
an individual’s readiness or willingness to engage in a behaviour
Attitudes
positive or negative evaluation regarding performing a behaviour. Note that it is the attitude towards behaviour, not attitude towards an object
Subjective norms
the perceived social pressure from social networks to engage in the behaviour
For instance, in predicting smoking behaviour, whether someone engages in smoking will be predicted by whether they believe smoking will be a positive or negative experience for them _____ and what they believe their social networks think about smoking _______. Together, attitudes and subjective norms will predict intention, which will then predict the behaviour.
(attitudes) , (subjective norms)
Although there is strong support for the TRA, some of the early criticisms of the model highlighted that there is a lot of variability regarding the extent to some behaviours are
under our own control
To address this limitation, Ajzen extended the model to include another component
perceived behaviour control (PBC
PBC refers to the extent to which people believe
the behaviour in question is easy or difficult for them to perform.
TPB postulates that attitudes, subjective norms and PBC predict
behavioural intentions, which, in turn, predict behaviour
As Cooke & Sheeran (2004) state TPB is
probably the dominant account of the relationship between cognitions and behaviour in social psychology
The HBM posits that a person will engage in positive or preventative health-related behaviours if they
Perceive that a negative health condition can be avoided;
Expect that acting will avoid a negative health condition; and
Believe that they have the capacity to act to avoid health condition.
HBM posits that behaviour can be predicted by a person’s perceptions of four key constructs, which represent the perceived threat of the health condition and the perceived benefits of avoiding it. They are
Perceived susceptibility
Perceived severity
Perceived benefits
Perceived barriers
Perceived susceptibility
the extent to which a person feels they are vulnerable to a health problem
Perceived severity
a person’s perceptions regarding how harmful the consequences of not engaging in preventative action may be
Perceived benefits
beliefs regarding the efficacy of the proposed or recommended preventative action
Perceived barriers
perceived barriers to taking preventative action/measures
Later revisions of the HBM by Rosenstock, Strecher, and Becker (1988) suggested two more variables be added to the model:
Cues to action
Self-efficacy
Cues to action
stimuli needed to activate the decision-making process to take preventative action. These cues can be internal (e.g., shortness of breath, weight gain) or external (e.g., advice from others, illness of family/friends, media reports
Self-efficacy
an individual’s beliefs about their own ability to take preventative action
Carpenter (2010) indicated that
perceived barriers and perceived benefits were the strongest predictors of behaviour across all the studies that were included, but perceived severity was a significant, but weak predictor.
Some authors have argued that TPB and the HBM are essentially
the same
One of the most common reasons people give for not eating healthy is that they are
too busy
