TY - JOUR
T1 - Using health education theories to explain behavior change
T2 - A cross-country analysis
AU - Murray-Johnson, Lisa
AU - Witte, Kim
AU - Boulay, Marc
AU - Figueroa, Maria Elena
AU - Storey, Douglas
AU - Tweedie, Ian
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper is dedicated to Professor A. D. Buckingham on the occasion of his 65th birthday. This work was partially supported by the National Science Foundation under the grant CHE-9224806.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - Scholars within the fields of public health, health education, health promotion, and health communication look to specific theories to explain health behavior change. The purpose of this article is to critically compare four health theories and key variables within, them with regard to behavior change in the area of reproductive health. Using cross-country analyses of Ghana, Nepal, and Nicaragua (data sets provided by the Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins University), the authors looked at, the Health Belief Model, Theory of Reasoned Action, Extended Parallel Process Model, and Social, Cognitive Theory for these two defined objectives. Results show that all four theories provide an excellent fit to the data, but that certain variables within them may have particular value for understanding specific aspects of behavior change. Recommendations for the selection of theories to use as guidelines in the design and evaluation of reproductive health programs are provided.
AB - Scholars within the fields of public health, health education, health promotion, and health communication look to specific theories to explain health behavior change. The purpose of this article is to critically compare four health theories and key variables within, them with regard to behavior change in the area of reproductive health. Using cross-country analyses of Ghana, Nepal, and Nicaragua (data sets provided by the Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins University), the authors looked at, the Health Belief Model, Theory of Reasoned Action, Extended Parallel Process Model, and Social, Cognitive Theory for these two defined objectives. Results show that all four theories provide an excellent fit to the data, but that certain variables within them may have particular value for understanding specific aspects of behavior change. Recommendations for the selection of theories to use as guidelines in the design and evaluation of reproductive health programs are provided.
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U2 - 10.2190/1500-1461-44GK-M325
DO - 10.2190/1500-1461-44GK-M325
M3 - Article
C2 - 17686703
AN - SCOPUS:34547219803
SN - 0272-684X
VL - 25
SP - 185
EP - 207
JO - International quarterly of community health education
JF - International quarterly of community health education
IS - 1-2
ER -