Health Behaviour Change

Question 1

Define health behaviour.

Answer 1

Any activity undertaken by an individual believing himself to be healthy, for the purpose of preventing disease or detecting it at an asymptomatic stage

Question 2

Describe the effect of education on health behaviour. When is it effective when isn’t it?

Answer 2

Education is effective on its own at changing discrete health behaviours in particular audiences e.g. getting a child vaccinated However, it is not effective on its own for more complex health behaviours It needs to be combined with individualised support, as well as economic, environmental and regulatory support

Question 3

Describe a study that showed the effect of education on health behaviour.

Answer 3

Nutbeam study on the effect of smoking education in schools

Smoking education showed that it increased knowledge but had no effect on behaviour (smoking)

Question 4

What is the Expectancy-Value model?

Answer 4

Potential for behaviour to occur is to do with:

• EXPECTANCY that the behaviour will lead to a particular outcome
• VALUE of that outcome

Question 5

Describe the results of an experiment that looked into the effect of fear arousal on health behaviours.

Answer 5

Fear arousal experiment in dental health – participants were exposed to either low, moderate or high fear with regards to dental health
Result: the higher the level of fear, the lower the change in behaviour

Question 6

What is self-efficacy?

Answer 6

Belief that one can execute the behaviour required to produce the outcome

Question 7

State the four sources of self efficacy

Answer 7

• Mastery experience (e.g. success in mastering a task)
• Social learning (i.e. if they can do it, so can I)
• Verbal persuasion/encouragement
• Physiological state/arousal (e.g. breathlessness, depression can dampen our belief in our capabilities)

Question 8

Describe the health belief model

Answer 8

The health belief model attempts to explain and predict health behaviours. It suggests that the likelihood of someone making health behaviour change is determined by their perceived susceptibility to adverse outcomes and the perceived severity of those outcomes along with the perceived benefits and barriers to making a change. These are modified by characteristics of the individual and the presence of a trigger or cue to action.

Question 9

Describe the theory of planned behaviour

Answer 9

The Theory of Planned Behaviour is based on the idea that a person’s intention is the key determinant in predicting behaviour. The intention is influenced by the individual’s pros and cons towards the behaviour which form the attitude, and what the person believes others important to them think about the behaviour (subjective norm) and their motivation to adhere to those beliefs. It also acknowledges the importance of self-efficacy or perceived behavioural control.

Question 10

What are the stages of the transtheoretical model?

Answer 10

Precontemplation - no intention on changing behaviour
Contemplation - aware a problem exists but with no commitment to action
Preparation - intent on taking action to address problem
Action - active modification of behaviour
Maintenance - sustained change; new healthier behaviour replaces old
Relapse - fall back into old patterns or behaviours
NOTE: you can enter and leave at any stage