Introduction
The middle of the XX century has faced a significant uprising in sociological studies of healthcare initiatives. Anuar et al. (2020) state that “HBM was developed in the 1950s to explain the drop in public involvement in health screening and prevention programs” (p. 207). Although Becker was not the first scientist to create the Health Belief Model, he still contributed greatly to the development of the theory and its implementation into healthcare practices. According to Becker (1974), the adoption of healthy behavior by a person depends on two sets of assessments: the threat their health problem poses and the pros and cons of leading a healthy life. There are also many variables that might influence these assessments, such as the perceived susceptibility to a concrete illness, how severe they think their condition is, demographic and sociopsychological specifics, and others. Becker used the theory to develop a more comprehensive approach to how nurses should encourage patients to adopt healthier behavior.
1st Basic Concept of Nursing Metaparadigm: Person
The first basic nursing metaparadigm refers to the needs of individuals and how healthcare workers have to apply personalized care to each and every patient. The Health Belief Model integrates very well with this approach, as it emphasizes that there are many variables that influence one’s behavior and motivation, and they need to be recognized by the nurse. Only by determining the specific conditions that affect the patient, such as their age, sex, race, presence of other diseases, cultural belonging, assumptions about their current health problem, and how they evaluate potential outcomes, can the nurse design an appropriate care plan.
2nd Basic Concept of Nursing Metaparadigm: Health
Within this metaparadigm, it becomes important for the nurse to be aware of multiple aspects of care and how to administer it. Each patient needs to be properly assessed before the treatment begins, and the process should be repeated throughout the whole duration of it. With the Health Belief Model, nurses can use the existing framework to evaluate patient’s condition – both physical and psychological – and incorporate this knowledge into everyday care.
3rd Basic Concept of Nursing Metaparadigm: Environment
It is always important to be aware of how the world around the individual affects their health state to be able to provide comprehensive treatment. Making the immediate environment of the patient as calm and stress-free as possible is another task nurses should engage in. However, healthcare workers also need to be provided with suitable working conditions that do not force them to get overworked and burnout.
4th Basic Concept of Nursing Metaparadigm: Nursing
Meaningful relationships provide individuals with positive emotions, a sense of fulfillment, and relatability. Thus, the fourth basic concept of nursing metaparadigm postulates that nurses should establish connections with their patients to ensure that all their needs – physical, psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual – are met. By expressing empathy and compassion towards the patients, nurses can assess their health-related beliefs more comprehensively and correctly, as a higher level of trust can be reached.
Theoretical Assumptions of Becker’s Health Belief Theory
Becker’s Health Belief Model postulates that a person’s motivation to change their health behavior is influenced by many factors that can be arranged into the aforementioned three groups. Green et al. (2020) explain that “HBM is incorporated into interventions to increase knowledge of health challenges, enhance perceptions of personal risk, encourage actions to reduce or eliminate the risk, and build a sense of self-efficacy to undertake the needed changes” (p. 1). By understanding how a concrete individual develops their assumptions about their health problems, what specific variables and knowledge influence their decisions, and how they can be motivated, a framework for changing health behavior can be developed. Moreover, by knowing how a person evaluates their health-related risks and what barriers they perceive as most significant on their path towards a healthier lifestyle, healthcare sociologists can design more effective health promotion campaigns.
Conclusion
The Health Belief Model is a reliable framework for assessing a person’s health behavior and its predispositions. Nurses can use HBM as a tool for designing more individualized and thus more effective treatment plans. HBM incorporates well into basic nursing meta paradigms, as it emphasizes interpersonal connections, a humane approach, and comprehensive care.
References
Anuar, H., Shah, S. A., bin Abdul Gafor, A. H., & Mahmood, M. I. (2020). Usage of Health Belief Model (HBM) in Health Behavior: A Systematic Review. Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 16(supp11), 201–209.
Becker, M. H. (1974). The health belief model and sick role behavior. Health Education Monographs, 2(4), 409–419. Web.
Green, E. C., Murphy, E. M., & Gryboski, K. (2020). The health belief model. In K. Sweeny et al. (Eds.), The Wiley Encyclopedia of Health Psychology, 211–214.
McKellar, K., & Sillence, E. (2020). Teenagers, sexual health information and the Digital age. Academic Press.