The Health Belief Model posits that health behaviour change depends on which two PRIMARY perceptions?

• A Perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of disease
• B Perceived benefits and perceived barriers to taking action
• C Cues to action and self-efficacy only
• D Perceived susceptibility + perceived severity (perceived threat) AND perceived benefits minus barriers (net benefit of action) ✓

Explanation

The Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, 1966) proposes that health behaviour is determined by perceived threat (= perceived susceptibility × perceived severity) and the net perceived benefits of taking action (benefits minus barriers). Cues to action activate the behaviour once perceived threat is present. Self-efficacy was added later by Rosenstock in 1988 as a fifth component. The full model integrates all these constructs, but the original two primary perceptions are threat and benefit-barrier analysis.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.