Health Belief Model in Planning Health Communication Campaign
Introduction
Health education of any nature needs impeccable strategies that can ensure a successful completion of any campaign to the best quality and the desired results reached. Most important in planning for health campaigns involves formulating an effective communication model, focusing on the aim of the project and devising means of reaching those goals.
In this post , the plan is to execute a health campaign program that aims at sensitizing people on HIV/AIDS and cancer. To execute the campaign successfully, I would use the health belief model to establish interventions that would address the two deadly diseases to prevent them and devise means of sensitizing people about cancer and HIV/AIDS to offer information about the ailments. The Health Belief Model (HBM) refers to a psychological model that predicts and explains health behaviors, and since AIDS and cancer are majorly a result of bad lifestyles, the model can come in handy. This can be through paying attention to the beliefs and attitudes of people and giving credible information. For instance, some people believe that cancer and HIV/Aids are curses, but through the health belief model in the campaign we will be able to scientifically explain the causes of the two deadly diseases, the high-risk people, and impact on victim’s lives and possible interventions that gear towards behavior change for better life. The HBM was developed by Kegels, Rosentock and Hochbaum in 1950s (Lajunen & Rasanen, 2004).
The health belief model is the best for a health campaign as it is more concerned with behavior change. This is because when people perceive that they are at risk of a condition and find out that it could be a severe condition, they are likely to take measures to prevent the condition. In this case, if the campaign is on the proposed model, there will be a provision for public education on causes of HIV/Aids, how to prevent it and on the other hand we have the causes of cancer and prevention techniques (Champion & Skinner, 2008).
The health belief model is the best for a health campaign as it is more concerned with behavior change. This is because when people perceive that they are at risk of a condition and find out that it could be a severe condition, they are likely to take measures to prevent the condition. In this case, if the campaign is on the proposed model, there will be a provision for public education on causes of HIV/Aids, how to prevent it and on the other hand we have the causes of cancer and prevention techniques (Champion & Skinner, 2008).
The chosen health belief model is one of the oldest models of health behavior and I find it the most effective in executing long-term behavior change campaign that would help people to eat healthy, exercise, adopt responsible sexual behaviors to minimize chances of contracting Aids for the already infected as well as un affected people. On the other side, According to the American Cancer Society, cancer of certain kinds runs in families but most are not a result of genetics. In most cases, cancers are caused by bad lifestyles like chain smoking and excessive intake of alcohol for lung cancer, exposure to radioactive material for skin cancer and carcinogens popularly taken in the body when we eat hot food from plastic utensils for stomach cancer. The health belief model is the best choice because of its capability to addresses health behavior grounded on numerous beliefs about the two deadly diseases. These beliefs include its perceived susceptibility to risk of the disease or condition. For example, the model has the ability to identify groups of people that are at high risk of cancer like the heavy bear drinkers and prostitutes in the case of AIDS. Second, the model pays much attention to perceived severity of the condition. For instance, the model would identify that cancer can cause huge financial crisis to families of victims due to the expensive nature of the cost therapies involved during treatment, stigma for AIDS patients and even death if badly managed. Third, the model also identifies the perceived benefits of behavior change in order to reduce the risk of these conditions. Reduction of risk would involve behavior change. Fourth, the application of the model would highlight any perceived obstacles of behavior change considered to decrease the risk of cancer and HIV/AIDS.
Using the health belief program-planning model will contribute to the effectiveness of the health campaign in many ways since it is an education based program. As shown on figure 1 as below, the diagram shows the interventions that the program planner can utilize to aid behavior change to down play the risk of cancer and Aids. The internet has made the world one global village and it will be a good idea to incorporate social media sites to carry the information the campaign would like to convey to the people concerning the two diseases in question (Wymer, 2011). The model first takes the approach of educating people on cancer and Aids though Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, paid up adverts in newspaper, magazines, radio, and TV (Community Toolbox, 2013). Second, as per the model, the campaign discusses the possible effects of the diseases on a person’s quality of life. According to the diagram the model would be the best suited for the behavior change campaign as in the next step it will help enlighten individuals on the benefits of responsible behaviors, healthy diets and exercising on reducing the potential risk of cancer and HIV/AIDS. Lastly, the health belief model encourages people to discuss potential obstacles to good health like lack of healthy foods and exercise facilities.
In order to design the health communication campaign, two behavioral constructs might be of use. This involves two constructs: self-efficacy and cues to action. Cues to events refer to events that propel people towards action. For example, a person may see a TV advert featuring a cancer survivor talking about how he or she quit excessive intake of alcohol and smoking. On the other hand, self-efficacy is concerned with a person’s confidence that he or she can effectively execute the indicated actions. The action here is applying the strategies of quitting smoking and alcohol to decrease the risks of cancer. However, if a person believes that he cannot successfully initiate a behavior change then he or she might not succeed ( Rimer & Glanz , 2005; Rimer, Glanz & Lewis, 2008; NCI, n.d).
Conclusion
The Health Belief model is applicable in design of health promotion plans. For example, as aforementioned, many people know that unprotected sex may lead to contracting of HIV/AIDS but still indulge in sex without using condoms. As shown on Figure 1, planners can use the model to devise interventions to curb cancer as well as HIV/AIDS.
References
Champion, V. L., & Skinner, C. S. (2008). The health belief model. Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice, 4, 45-65.
Community Tool Box. (2013). Section 3: Preparing press releases. In (Author), Promoting interest and participation in initiatives. Retrieved from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of contents/participation/promoting-interest/press-releases/main
Glanz, K., Rimer, B. K., & Viswanath, K. (Eds.). (2008). Health behavior and health education: theory, research, and practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Lajunen, T., & R?s?nen, M. (2004). Can social psychological models be used to promote bicycle helmet use among teenagers? A comparison of the Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behavior and the Locus of Control. Journal of safety research, 35(1), 115-123.
National Cancer Institute. (n.d.). Pink book: Making health communication programs work. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute, Office of Communications.
Rimer, B. K., & Glanz, K. (2005). Theory at a glance: a guide for health promotion practice .
Wymer, W. (2011). Developing more effective social marketing strategies. Journal of Social Marketing, 1(1), 17–31. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.