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subJcctivc world o! the actin9 individual, proposes the following theoretical conditions and components:
l) The individual's psychological "readiness to take action" relative to a particular health condition e.g. going to the hospital to seek treatment from thG doctor for sexually transmitted diseases,
which is determined by both the persons perceived
"susccptibil1ty or vulnerability to the particular condition and by his perceptions of the "severity"
of the consequences of contracting the • condition .
2) The individual's evaluation o! the advocated health
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1-·urthermore a "sti111ulus" either internal (for example perception o! bodily states such as a pregnancy in
the adolescent) or " ex ternal'' {for example interpersona.l interactions, mass media corurounications , personal
knowledge of the state of pregnancy , complications of
abortion, infertility, long term effects of sexual probleras that are not professionally treated) must occur to tri99er the appropriate health behaviour; this is tel"'!led the
"cue to action".
The "cue to action" is held as nece!;sary !or
e.cti.vating the readiness variables, a.nd serves to llla.ke the individual consciously aware of his feelings,
thus enabling him to bring thrm to bear upon the particular p'J:oblcms ,;uch os accepting an unwanted
pregnancy and not trying abortion o.nd making decision as to be sexually healthy and keeping to it.
The Health Belief Hodel and Preventive Health Behaviour According to Rosentock (1974) quoting Kasl and Cobb , health behaviour is defined as •any activity undertaken by a person who believes himsel.f to be healthy, for the
purpose of ""eventing disease or detecting disease in an asyr,ptomo.tic stage". This is in contrast to illness
bohaviour defined o.s "o.ny activity undertaken by a pc?rson who f e els ill, !or the purpose of defining tho 1,uitablc r�edy", and the sl.ck-rolo behaviour , the
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activity undertaken by those who consider themselves ill ior the purpose o! 9ettin9 well".
Rosenstock (lQ74) stated that these three modes
of behaviour are not discontinuous and the edges between illness behaviour and sick-role behaviour are not
clearly demarcated.
It is tnerefore important in sex education prograJllllles to eltlphasise the importance of prevention, which saves
persons from a lot of problems, most especially psycho
logical problems, which may need a great deal of
rehabilitation treatement to cure it; tor example develop
ment of complications after aborti on, which may lead to surgical removal of female reproductive organs and in males, infertility as a long term result of sexually transmitted disease that i� not treated.
Health education as an independent variablo
Haefner and Krischt (1974) did attempt experimentally to increase people's readiness to follow preventive hcal.th practices, by presenting them with nessa9es about selected health problem& that were intended both to increasing
their perceived susceptibility and/or severity regarding the health problems , and their beliefs in the efficacy o! profesGionallY rccor1%!1Qnded bchaviou�.
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•
Health education should be a major part of sex education concentrating on providing clear cut and
bold messages regarding susceptibility and severity of s<?Xual health problems so as to increase awareness of sexual health problems :i.n the adolescent as early as possible, as well as the means of achieving sound sexual • health.
HPalth beliefs and social class
Though it is deblltablc to conclude that the lower social class i� not as p�one to accept health beliefs
o! the kind described, as are members of the higher/middle classes, it is however generally believed that the Health Belief Mode.! (HBM) seems to have 9reater applicability
to middle class groups than to lower status 9roups.
This belief is ba�ed on the premise that possession of the health boliefs implies an orientation toward de!ernent of i111111ediate oratificntion in the 1nterest
of 1on9-run goals (llenlth Education Monogr.iphs, 1974),
•
The children of the lower class oroup arc believed to have a more open and care free attitude to sexual
issues, because it is n day to d.iy ufair with them. ln comparison children of the high/middle claas aro usually unGomtortablc with se,cuol issue. and oct into more acxual
health problems than the othor 9roup (Johnson and Warren 1973), Sex education pro9ra=ca may therefore need to
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concentrate on balancing the sexual health defects in the lower and higher/middle classes.
Health habits •
A possible limitation in the ultimate applicability of the model is in the case of habitual behaviours and
in styles of behaviour. Patterns of behaviour that are developed in early life most likely are not motivated
by the kinds of health concerns that may guide the adults behaviou r, During the' socialization process, !or example children learn to adopt many sexual health related habits
and practices which will permanently in!luence their adult beh aviou r , for example a sensitive a.nd reserved attitude to sexual issues , behaviour and activities.
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In document
Biologically Inspired Visual Control of Flying Robots
(Page 84-99)