What is the Health Belief Model (HBM) in Health and Social Care?

The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a psychological framework that helps explain why people make certain decisions about their health. It looks at the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions that influence whether a person will take action to prevent illness or manage existing health conditions. The model is widely used in health and social care to guide public health campaigns, patient education, and community health programmes.

The HBM was first developed in the 1950s by social psychologists working in public health. They wanted to understand why people did not take advantage of disease prevention services, such as health screenings and immunisations. Over time, it became a widely recognised way of predicting and understanding health behaviours.

At its core, the model is about how individuals view their own risk of a health problem and whether they feel the benefits of taking action outweigh the barriers. It is built on the idea that people’s behaviour is influenced by what they believe about health problems and the value they place on prevention or treatment.

Core Concepts of the Health Belief Model

The HBM contains several concepts that work together. Each concept focuses on a different aspect of how people think and feel about health behaviour.

• Perceived Susceptibility – This refers to how likely someone feels they are to experience a health condition. If a person believes they are at high risk of developing a disease, they may be more willing to take preventative action. Conversely, someone who thinks their risk is low may ignore advice to change their behaviour.
• Perceived Severity – This relates to how serious a person believes the consequences of a health condition would be. People who feel a disease could lead to severe outcomes, such as death or disability, are often more motivated to act.
• Perceived Benefits – This concept deals with whether someone believes that a recommended action will work. For example, if a person believes quitting smoking will greatly reduce their risk of lung disease, they may be more inclined to stop.
• Perceived Barriers – This element looks at the obstacles a person sees in carrying out a health-related action. These could be physical, emotional, financial, or social. If someone thinks it will be difficult or too costly to make a change, they are less likely to try.
• Cues to Action – These are triggers that prompt a person to take action. They might be internal prompts, such as feeling unwell, or external prompts, such as a public health campaign, seeing a friend fall ill, or advice from a healthcare professional.
• Self-Efficacy – This refers to how confident someone feels in their ability to take the recommended action. People who believe they can make a change are more likely to do so than those who doubt their abilities.

How the Health Belief Model Works in Practice

The HBM is not a step-by-step guide but a way of thinking about the factors that influence health decisions. In health and social care settings, professionals use it to plan strategies that address each concept and encourage healthier behaviour.

For example, if someone is advised to attend regular screening for cervical cancer, health workers might:

• Explain how common the condition is to increase perceived susceptibility.
• Describe the potential consequences of untreated cancer to raise perceived severity.
• Share evidence that screening can detect cancer early and save lives, increasing perceived benefits.
• Offer free appointments or flexible clinic times to reduce barriers.
• Provide reminders or awareness events as cues to action.
• Support patients with advice on booking appointments to build self-efficacy.

Relevance to Health and Social Care Professionals

Professionals across the sector apply the HBM to both prevention and treatment. It helps them identify why people might resist taking recommended actions and address these concerns directly. By considering the individual’s perspective, they can make interventions more personal and effective.

For example, in promoting vaccination, professionals might find that some people underestimate their susceptibility to the disease or doubt the severity of possible outcomes. Others might fear side effects or think the process is inconvenient. Using HBM concepts, campaigns can tackle these beliefs head-on.

Examples of HBM in Different Health Areas

There are many situations in health and social care where the Health Belief Model has a practical role.

Smoking Cessation
Health workers use HBM to link smoking to real risks, offer information about the benefits of quitting, address barriers such as nicotine withdrawal, and boost confidence with support groups.

Healthy Eating and Weight Management
People may not recognise they are at risk of diabetes or heart disease. Education programmes can raise awareness, explain consequences, show how healthy eating helps, and provide cooking classes to overcome barriers.

Screening Programmes
Campaigns for cancer screening often focus on increasing perceived susceptibility and severity, explaining the benefits of early detection, reducing appointment costs, and promoting self-confidence to attend clinics.

Medication Adherence
Patients sometimes stop taking prescribed medication if they feel better or think the illness is not serious. Education can increase understanding of severity and benefits while finding ways to remove challenges such as prescription costs or transportation.

Factors Affecting the Health Belief Model’s Effectiveness

While the HBM is widely used, it is shaped by factors outside its core concepts. Individual experiences, cultural beliefs, access to healthcare, and trust in medical advice can influence how well it works in practice.

A person’s previous encounters with illness can change their views on susceptibility and severity. Social connections can provide strong cues to action or create barriers if peers discourage healthy behaviour. Communication style from health professionals, whether face-to-face or through media, also affects how well people receive and understand messages.

Using HBM to Design Public Health Campaigns

When designing health education campaigns, the HBM provides a framework to make messages more persuasive. Campaigns aim to raise awareness, increase confidence, and reduce practical or emotional barriers to action.

A well-structured campaign might:

• Use clear statistics to show the risk of a condition.
• Share real stories to highlight severity and consequences.
• Explain how a recommended behaviour directly improves health outcomes.
• Offer reassurance and practical guidance to remove fears and difficulties.
• Provide regular prompts through advertising, social media, or community events.

Advantages of Using the Health Belief Model

The HBM takes into account that people’s health decisions are often based on personal beliefs rather than purely medical facts. It helps professionals design interventions that target these beliefs directly instead of simply giving generic information. The model is straightforward, easy to understand, and can be applied to many different health issues.

By focusing on individual perceptions, it encourages personalised communication. It supports the idea that health behaviour change is influenced by more than knowledge alone—it involves feelings, confidence, and social encouragement.

Limitations of the Health Belief Model

While highly useful, the HBM is not without its limitations. People’s decisions about health may be influenced by habits, social pressures, and environmental conditions that are not fully explained by the model. Some behaviour is driven by emotion or impulse rather than logical assessment of risk and benefit.

Not all individuals respond to perceived severity or susceptibility in the same way. For example, someone may know the risk is high but still believe action will not help them personally. Others may act without considering or assessing these beliefs at all.

How HBM Can Be Applied at a Community Level

In community health programmes, applying HBM means addressing each component through targeted activities. This might involve:

• Running workshops that raise awareness of local health risks.
• Partnering with community groups to reduce physical or social barriers.
• Using trusted local figures to provide cues to action.
• Offering skill-building sessions to strengthen confidence in following health advice.

By combining education with practical measures, communities are more likely to see positive changes in behaviour.

Final Thoughts

The Health Belief Model offers a clear and practical way to think about why people do or do not follow health advice. By looking at perceived risk, severity, benefits, barriers, triggers, and confidence, health and social care professionals can create strategies that connect more deeply with the individuals they serve. It reminds us that changing health behaviour is not simply a matter of telling people what to do—it involves understanding how they think and feel about their health and building interventions around those beliefs. When applied thoughtfully, it can guide meaningful improvements in both individual and community well-being.