Mental health articles

Motivation in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
Motivation in relation to health promotion and disease
prevention relates to the willingness of individuals
to participate in health promotion interventions and to
implement the recommendations for a healthy life style
or the coping with disease in daily life. The motivation
of individuals is essential if the suggestions of health
promotion campaigns are to be followed. Motivation to
participate in and implement health promotion issues
through health education generates individual health
behavior. Numerous concepts and models try to explain
how individuals are motivated to participation in health
promotion campaigns and interventions (for example
 the precede–proceed model,  health belief model,
 social learning theory,  trans–theoretical model,  theory of reasoned action, theoryof planned action. These theories and the theories of health behavior ( health behavior theories) contribute answers to the question
of why people are motivated to change their behavior on health related issues. These models on health behavior explain an individual’s readiness
to change un-healthful behaviors . The basic premise is that behavior change is a process and not an event, and that individuals are at varying levels of motivation, or readiness, to change. This means that
people at different points in the process of change can
benefit from different programs for change, and the programs
work best if matched to their stage of readiness.

Furthermore, models of health promotion (health promotion
models) try to explain behavior to help systematically plan, conduct and evaluate health promotion interventions or programs and to motivate individuals in participating health promotion. In modern public health
practice today, usually a mix of concepts from different models is employed, and all major theories are examined for their applicability to a given intervention.

Tags: disease prevention, Health, Health Promotion