Personal Application of the Health Belief Model

Use the health belief model to analyze your own experience of health and illness: consider the last time that you had a cold or the flu.

Imagine having to explain your experience of having a cold or flu to someone else, and choose five pieces of information you think would be important for them to know.

What are the important pieces of information you think they would need to know? Would the information you share be different if it was a healthcare professional or a friend or family member?

Consider the following:

1. Perceived susceptibility:did you think that you would get a cold or the flu? Why or why not? How might psychological characteristics impact your views.
2. Perceived severity:do you perceive a cold or a flu to be "serious"? Consider how demographic variables could change your perceptions.
3. Health motivation:what were some of your motivations for getting better quickly or doing nothing at all? How do you view on the severity versus the benefits shape your motivations?
4. Perceived benefits:did you seek treatment or the care of a healthcare professional? What benefit did you hope to derive from this? Consider how your previous experience or lack of experience having a cold or flu might influence your thinking around benefits.
5. Perceived barriers:did you face any barriers in accessing care or treatment? How might sociodemographic issues, language barriers, other health conditions add complexity to your behaviour.

Based on this exercise,a) what are two positive or helpful elements of the health belief model? b) what are two shortcomings of the health belief model?