One of the health behaviors that can be influenced by both the Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior model is preventive health behavior. Preventive health behavior is a non-willingness of the people to get a vaccination against a particular virus (Janz & Becker, 1984). Several factors are important in shaping an individual’s intention regarding the vaccination. These factors include compliance with medication regimen, following medical appointments, smoking behavior, etc. The intention of people regarding the vaccination was successfully identified via analysis of other health behaviors using the Health Belief Model. The main idea of the Health Belief Model is that people’s involvement in health-related activities can be predicted and explained by their perceptions and beliefs about health problems, the advantages and disadvantages of particular health-related actions, and self-efficacy. At the same time, the Theory of Planned Behavior uses a number of predictors to identify the future behavior of the person regarding the vaccination.
Both, Health Belief Model and Protection Motivation Theory have their own distinctions, which make them different along with the similarities between two concepts. The main construct and variables make the concepts similar to each other (Ajzen, 1988). When applied to the prediction of screening behavior, both models consider the severity of the illness, barriers and benefits of the action, and vulnerability of the person. Personal and demographic variables play a more important role in Health Belief Model. Also, Health Behavior Model allows health motivation to be a relatively equal and independent variable within the model. At the same time, Protection Motivation Theory pays high attention to self-efficacy, response-efficacy, and maladaptive responses (Floyd, 2000). Moreover, the theory is more advantageous in terms of properly framing the information. Thus, I believe that these two concepts have both similarities and differences. However, I would not agree with the statement that the concepts are ‘very similar.’
References
Ajzen, I. (1988). Attitudes, personality, and behavior. Chicago: Dorsey Press
Floyd, D. L., Prentice‐Dunn, S., & Rogers, R. W. (2000). A meta‐analysis of research on protection motivation theory. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30(2), 407-429.
Janz, N. K., & Becker, M. H. (1984). The health belief model: A decade later. Health Education Quarterly, 11(1), 1-47.