The health belief model uses psychological indicators to
predict health behaviors and conditions. The model assumes that a person's beliefs and
attitudes about health behaviors influences their actions just as much as (and sometimes
more than) thier knowledge of the consequences of these behaviors. The health belief
models can help explain why people sometimes engage in high-risk health behaviors
even though cognitively they understand the potential negative impact of those
behaviors. An example is smoking. The health belief model takes from psychology the idea
of exceptionalism. Exceptionalism is a psychological trap that many fall into: the idea
that what happens to most people will not happen to you. A person suffering
from cognitive illusion will continue to smoke, despite knowledge of statistics relating
smoking to lung cancer, shorter lifespan and other quality of life
issues. Subconsciously, the person may believe himself to be an exception to this rule.
Thus, he may say things like: "I've been smoking for this long and it hasn't killed me
yet," or: "My grandfather smoked and lived to be over 100."
The benefit of this model is that it helps us remember
that people's health choices are based not only on rational thought but also on
emotions, habits, social conditioning and personal preference. Thus, it opens our eyes
to what might be more effective social teaching methods around healthy
habits.
This model is limited to health-risk behaviors and
as such can't help us understand the environmental, social and personal factors that
influence health conditions. For example, belief may influence a person's decision to
smoke, but it does not influence whether that person does develop lung cancer. The
health belief model helps health care practitioners develop educational and social
awareness programs that can change behavior, but does nothing to advance knowledge of
how to treat various diseases or conditions once a person develops them.
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