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Health Belief Model. The Health Belief Model (HBM) (Hochbaum, 1958 xClose
Hochbaum, G. M. (1958). Public participation in medical screening programs: a sociopsychological study. In (Anonymous), United States Government Printing Office: Washington D.C.) was developed to understand the uptake of prevention and early detection behaviours, such as attendance at x-ray screening for tuberculosis. The HBM proposes that perceived vulnerability to disease and disease severity combine to form ‘threat’, and that threat perception motivates action. According to the HBM, threat perception drives behaviour but the particular action taken is determined by beliefs about the behavioural options available to counter the threat. A particular behaviour will only be adopted if its perceived benefits (i.e. potential to reduce the disease threat) outweigh its perceived barriers (such as cost, inconvenience, embarrassment, discomfort). In addition, cues to action, such as the presence of symptoms or having a medical appointment, were seen as necessary to ‘set the process in motion’ (Rosenstock, 1974 xClose
Rosenstock, I. M. (1974). Historical origins of the health belief model. Health Education Monographs 2, 1-8.).
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