The health belief model and nutrition education

Five axioms of learning explain the stability of dietary practices and suggest approaches to teaching more healthful habits. These axioms include the influence of prior beliefs and attitudes upon people's interpretations, the fact that effective learning is incremental, the value of reinforcement, the habitual nature of much behavior, and the fact that learning includes both cognitions and skills. The Health Belief Model (HBM), a specification of the first axiom, holds that people are likely to follow health recommendations if they are motivated about their health and if they believe that they are susceptible to an ill health condition; that the occurrence of that condition would have serious impact on their lives; that following a particular set of health recommendations would be beneficial in reducing either their susceptibility to or the severity of the condition; and that the psychological benefits of following the health recommendation outweighs its costs. Educational diagnosis may be made by identifying peoples' status on each variable in the HBM and then formulating an educational plan directed toward modifying beliefs, as needed, taking into account the other learning axioms. An ethical stance is adopted that holds that informed individuals should be entitled to maintain the practices they prefer.