Health promotion theroy - Coursework Example

HEALTH BELIEF MODEL The theories of health promotion are used to predict the outcomes from therapeutic interventions. There are different theories that are normally put forward and used to achieve this. One of these theories is the health belief model theory. This model normally focuses on individual health promotion. It helps us to predict the health behaviors of an individual based on the belief patterns of that person. This is one of the first theories ever developed and was used in understanding the response of a person towards illness treatment and health promotion (Glanz & Lewis, 2002).

This theory is normally based on the fact that the readiness of an individual to act depends on his or her own perceptions. These perceptions include severity of the consequences, the potential benefits, and cost of taking that particular action as well as the susceptibility. The main advantage of this theory is that subsequent interventions can be planned and made on the basis of the response of an individual towards these concepts. This theory was purposely developed to respond to the issue of the failure of the free TB health screening plan.

This model can be used to look into a number of both short-term and long-term health behaviors which include the transmission of HIV/AIDS and other sexual risk behaviors (Glanz & Lewis, 2002). This theory argues that a person will normally take a health-related act such as using a condom if he feels that HIV can be avoided, expects a positive result by using protection and if he believes that he can effectively take an optional health action. This theory is very useful when planning for the community health program.

You will be in a position to predict the proper plan of action to take after taking these studies in the community. However, it is worth noting that the theory does not look into other aspects of the individual such as the environment in which they live (John, 2003)..ReferencesGlanz, K., Rimer, B. K., & Lewis, F. M. (2002). Health behavior and health education: theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.John, E. T. (2003). Character education - a health belief model: bridging the gap between character education & health education.

Boston: Prentice Hall.