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The Health Belief Model and Predictions of Health Actions

  • Chapter
Health Behavior

Abstract

An important role of applied social science in health has been the promulgation of theory designed to account for health behaviors of individuals and groups. Efforts to model various health-related actions have multiplied and become increasingly sophisticated. Stone (1979), in his comprehensive review of psychology and the health system, noted that “the questions of why people behave as they do and how they may be induced to behave differently have represented the core of American psychology throughout this century” (p. 70). Recent growth in the study of health behavior has significant roots in the pioneering efforts of applied psychologists and sociologists, represented in the frameworks outlined in the seminal article by Kasl and Cobb (1966). As noted by Leventhal, Zimmerman, and Gutmann (1984) in their critical review, “the health belief model is the cognitive model most frequently used in studies of health behavior and compliance” (p. 384).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109-2029, USA

    John P. Kirscht

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  1. Raymond S. Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA

    David S. Gochman

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© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Kirscht, J.P. (1988). The Health Belief Model and Predictions of Health Actions. In: Gochman, D.S. (eds) Health Behavior. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0833-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0833-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0835-3

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