Module 2:
Health And Human Behavior
BY: Mulugeta M. [MSC, MPH]
Learning objectives
2
At the end of this chapter, students
are expected to:
Define behavior and related terms
Describe the factors which affect human
behavior
Discuss on the role of human behavior in
prevention of disease and promotion of
health
Brain storming
3
What is behavior?
Define Life style?
Define custom?
What are traditions ?
Define culture?
Definition of behavior &
related terms
4
Behavior:
Is an action that has a specific
frequency, duration and purpose
whether conscious or unconscious. It
is what we “do” and how we “act”
Example: Action – drinking/smoking
To say a person has drinking/smoking
behavior
Duration –is it for a week/month?
Frequency- how it is repeated?
Purpose –is he/she doing consciously or not
Definition …
5
Life style: refers to the collection of
behaviors that make up a person’s way
of life-including diet, clothing, family life,
housing and work.
Customs: It represents the group
behavior. It is the pattern of action
shared by some or all members of the
society.
Traditions: are behaviors that have
been carried out for a long time and
Definition …
6
Culture: is the whole complex of
knowledge, attitude, norms, beliefs,
values, habits, customs, traditions
and any other capabilities and skills
acquired by man as a member of society.
Distinguishing characteristics of
culture:
Culture is symbolic
Culture is shared
Culture is learned
DOMAIN of Behavior
7
Basically human behavior has 3 domains;
A) Cognitive domain (knowledge, perception )
Encodes, stores, retrieves, processes
information;
purpose is manipulation of information
B) Affective domain= cognition +feeling
eg. Attitude, Beliefs
purpose is to create arousal
C) Psychomotor domain - Voluntary muscle
Psycho-mind , Motor – action
knowledge
comprehension
application
cognitive analysis
synthesis
evaluation
recieving
responding
Behavior affective
valuing
responsible
perception
guided response
psychomotor
mechanism
8
adoption
Behaviors promoting health:
9
Preventive
behaviors
Utilization
behaviors
Illness behaviors
Compliance
behaviors
Rehabilitation
behaviors
Community action
Behaviors promoting health:
10
Healthy behaviors: - actions that
healthy people undertake to keep
themselves or others healthy and prevent
disease. Eg. Good nutrition, breast
feeding,
Utilization behavior: - Utilization of
health services such as antenatal care,
child health, immunization, family
planning…etc
Behaviors promoting health:
11
Compliance behaviors: - following a
course of prescribed drugs such as for
tuberculosis.
Rehabilitation behaviors: - what people
need to do after a serious illness to
prevent further disability.
Community action: - actions by
individuals and groups to change and
improve their surroundings to meet
Stages of behavior change
12
Factors affecting human
behavior
13
Predisposin
g factors
Knowledge,
attitude,
perception, beliefs,
Reinforcing values, self Enabling factors
factors efficacy etc.
Availability,
Peer pressure, affordability,
influential people, accessibility,
perceived social resources to
pressures/discourag accomplish the
ement/encouragem Behavi behaviors
ent ors
Lawrence Green
1. Predisposing factors:
14
Ω Provide the rationale or motivation
for the behavior to occur. Example:
Knowledge, Belief, Attitudes, Values
Ω They are generally referred to cognitive variables because
they are inside the mind – inside head factors and have to do
with knowing or believing
Ω They are also called psychosocial because they are socially
influenced
Predisposing …..Knowledge
15
• Knowledge: Is, “A clear and certain mental
perception, understanding, the fact of
being aware of something, experience of
acquaintance of familiarity with information
of, learning that which is known, facts
learned or study of.”
Therefore, one`s knowledge of something
include some combination of ;
1. Simple awareness of facts and
2. Understanding of how these facts relate to
Predisposing …. Perception
16
Perception: a process
by which individuals
organize and interpret their
sensory information in order
to give meaning it.
Perception is a means of
acquiring knowledge.
And it is highly subjective
Perception is subjective
17
18
Perception is subjective …. & it influences
knowledge
Belief
19
Belief is a conviction that a phenomenon
or object is true or real.
Beliefs deal with people’s understanding of
themselves and their environment.
People usually do not know whether what
they believe is true or false.
They are usually derived from our parents,
grandparents, and other people we respect.
Beliefs may be helpful, harmful or
neutral.
Attitude
20
Attitudes: are relatively constant feelings,
predispositions or set of beliefs directed
towards an object, person or situation.
They are evaluative feelings and reflect our
likes and dislikes.
Theyoften come from our experiences or
from those of people close to us.
Theyeither attract us to things, or make
wary of them.
Characteristics of attitude
21
1) Predisposition- exposure related to an
attitudinal object. No exposure, no
attitude
2) Has directions- polar, +ve or -ve, good
or bad.
Negative ……………… positive
3) Evaluation-can be evaluated by intensity
Attitude….
22
4) Changeability-can be changed, not
static.
5) Stability or consistency
Stability=related to time , constant over
sometime
Consistency= sameness of attitude
e.g. “Mood” changed quite often.
Link between knowledge(K) and Attitude (A)
23
Feeling/sense
Knowledg
of like or Attitude
e
dislike
Link among knowledge(K) and Attitude
(A) and Practice (P)
24
Knowled
Attitude Practice
ge
25
In HE, we try
is to close
these gaps by
helping
people to
practice what
they know.
Value
26
The relative
worthy/preference/judgment individual
gives every thing around is known as
value.
value is something is held to be important
or worth; and prized by an individuals or
community.
Examples of characteristics that can be valued by
the communities
27
Being a good mother
having many children/cattle Value exert strong
and enduring
masculinity and sexual prowess influence on
Being attractive to opposite sex behaviors. It provides
general guides to
Having beautiful girl friend behaviors.
academically success
Being a man of God /Allah, success in foot ball events ,
being ‘modern’ * being healthy
28
Difficult index;
In terms of difficulty of changing:
Knowled <
< Beliefs < Attitude Value
ge
2. Enabling factors
29
Enabling factors are those antecedents to
behavior that facilitate a motivation to
be realized.
They help individuals to choose, decide
and adopt behaviors and may be barriers
and assets to needed changes.
The absence of enabling conditions
Enabling ….
30
Sometimes a person may intend to
perform but still not do so. This is because
of the influence of enabling factors such
as time, money, equipment, skills and
health services.
31
They includes
Availability, accessibility and affordability health care
New skills
Resources. Eg. Time, money, transportation etc.
1. What is enabling factors to prepare home made ORS?
2. What are the enabling factors to promote condom use?
3. What are enabling factors to promote quitting of
smoking ?
Enabling …
32
In behavior change communication be
sure that enabling resources are readily
available in the community of interest.
3. Reinforcing factors:
33
These factors come subsequent to the
behavior.
They are important for persistence or
repetition of the behavior.
It include:
Family
Peers,
Teachers
Employers,
Health providers
Community leaders
Decision makers
Reinforcing factors
34
nd s
Fr ie Traditional
healers
Grand
are n ts
p
Religious
nd leaders
H u sb a
I want to use FP,
but…
The influence of social pressure (circle of influence)
Summary of factors affect human
behaviors
35
Predisposing create intention
factors to act
Enabling Realizes the
factors intentions
Encourage
Reinforcing behaviors to
factors persist
Sustainable behavior
Remember: Any given behavior can be explained as a
function of the collective influence of these three
factors
Theoretical sequence to address
determinants of behaviors
36
• Knowled Enabling Behavi
• Peer
ge,
factors
influence &
ors
• Availability,
attitude, affordability, social
beliefs, accessibility pressure
values & others
Predisposin resources Reinforcing
g factors factors
In practice simultaneously
Educational approaches to behavior
37 change
Determinant
s of • Approaches to change
behaviors
•Direct communication with target
Predisposing individuals-educational approaches
factors
• Organization change, avail
Enabling factors services, accessibility, advocacy ,
resource mobilization
• In direct communication with the
Reinforcing social environments , influential
factors peoples
The role of human behavior in
prevention of disease and
38
promotion of health
Brain storming
What is prevention?
What are levels of prevention?
The role of human behavior in
prevention of disease and
39
promotion of health
Prevention: is defined as the planning
for and the measures taken to forestall
the onset of a disease or other health
problem before the occurrence of
undesirable health events.
There are three distinct levels of
prevention:
1. Primary prevention
40
Primary prevention is comprised of those
activities carried out to keep people
healthy and prevent them from getting
disease.
Examples : vaccination, improved water
supply, vector control, brushing teeth etc.
HE plays significant roles
Preventive behaviors
Promotive behaviors ,
Utilization behaviors
2. Secondary prevention
41
Secondary prevention includes
preventive measures that lead to an
early diagnosis and prompt treatment of
a problem before it becomes serious.
Example: HE Program on Early
Treatment of STI
HE plays significant roles:
Appropriate illness behaviors
Early treatment seeking,
3. Tertiary prevention
42
Tertiary prevention seeks to limit
disability or complication arising from an
irreversible condition
It is all about rehabilitative measure
Example: HE on positive living with
HIV/AIDS
Health education:
To promote rehabilitative
References
43
1. Lawrence W. Green et al. 1980. Health
education planning a diagnostic approach
2. Randall R. Cottrell, James T. Girvan, James F.
McKenzie 2006. Principles& foundations of
health promotion and education. Third ed.
USA.
3. BruceG, Wlter H, Nell H. Introduction to
Health education and Health promotion;2nd
edition, 1984
4. Ramachandran L. and Dharmalingam. T.
THANK YOU!!
