Health Belief Model - Constructs

Constructs

The health belief model, developed by researchers at the U.S. Public Health Service in the 1950s, was inspired by a study of why people sought X-ray examinations for tuberculosis. The original model included these four constructs:

• Perceived susceptibility (an individual's assessment of their risk of getting the condition). The greater the risk is of getting a certain medical condition, the more a person will engage in behaviors to decrease the risk. That's why people get vaccinations to prevent disease, brush their teeth to prevent gum disease, and workout to stay healthy.
• Perceived severity (an individual's assessment of the seriousness of the condition, and its potential consequences). For example, getting the flu seems like a fairly minor thing for most people, just bed rest for a few days and you're all better. However, for people who can't afford to take a few days off work, or for people who already have an underlying medical condition, getting the flu could be a very serious thing. Individual differences influence the perceived severity and varies greatly between people.
• Perceived barriers (an individual's assessment of the influences that facilitate or discourage adoption of the promoted behaviour). Perceived barriers is someone's own thoughts about the obstacles in the way of adopting a new behavior, and also the consequences of continuing an old behavior. The perceived barriers are the most influential construct because they determine if someone will adopt a new behavior or not, depending on if the benefits of the behavior outweigh the consequences.
• Perceived benefits (an individual's assessment of the positive consequences of adopting the behaviour). It's why people eat fruits and vegetables, use sunscreen, or get health screenings. Perceived benefits is opinion based, not everyone adopts the same behaviors. You only adopt behaviors that you think will decrease the chance of getting a disease that you think you are more susceptible to.

A variant of the model include the perceived costs of adhering to prescribed intervention as one of the core beliefs.

Constructs of mediating factors were later added to connect the various types of perceptions with the predicted health behaviour:

• Demographic variables (such as age, gender, ethnicity, occupation)
• Socio-psychological variables (such as social economic status, personality, coping strategies)
• Perceived efficacy (an individual's self-assessment of ability to successfully adopt the desired behavior)
• Cues to action (external influences promoting the desired behavior, may include information provided or sought, reminders by powerful others, persuasive communications, and personal experiences)
• Health motivation (whether an individual is driven to stick to a given health goal)
• Perceived control (a measure of level of self-efficacy)
• Perceived threat (whether the danger imposed by not undertaking a certain health action recommended is great)

The prediction of the model is the likelihood of the individual concerned to undertake recommended health action (such as preventive and curative health actions).