Health Belief Model (HBM) was developed in the early 1950s by social scientists at the U.S. Public Health Service in order to understand the failure of people to adopt disease prevention strategies or screening tests for the early detection of disease. Later uses of HBM were for patients' responses to symptoms and compliance with medical treatments. The HBM suggests that a person's belief in a personal threat of an illness or disease together with a person's belief in the effectiveness of the recommended health behavior or action will predict the likelihood the person will adopt the behavior.
Limitations of Health Belief Model
There are several limitations of the HBM which limit its utility in public health. Limitations of the model include the following:
It does not account for a person's attitudes, beliefs, or other individual determinants that dictate a person's acceptance of a health behavior.
It does not take into account behaviors that are habitual and thus may inform the decision-making process to accept a recommended action (e.g., smoking).
It does not take into account behaviors that are performed for non-health related reasons such as social acceptability.
It does not account for environmental or economic factors that may prohibit or promote the recommended action.
It assumes that everyone has access to equal amounts of information on the illness or disease.
It assumes that cues to action are widely prevalent in encouraging people to act and that "health" actions are the main goal in the decision-making process.
Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory, developed by E.M. Rogers in 1962, is one of the oldest social science theories. It originated in communication to explain how, over time, an idea or product gains momentum and diffuses (or spreads) through a specific population or social system. The end result of this diffusion is that people, as part of a social system, adopt a new idea, behavior, or product. Adoption means that a person does something differently than what they had previously (i.e., purchase or use a new product, acquire and perform a new behavior, etc.). The key to adoption is that the person must perceive the idea, behavior, or product as new or innovative. It is through this that diffusion is possible.
