Adherence to health messages: a social psychological perspective

Non-adherence to regimes recommended by health practitioners is prevalent in the health and safety area. Even the most effective of interventions does not tend to lead to substantial improvements in adherence. This paper reviews models from the health psychology sphere that predict which factors might lead people to practice health-enhancing behaviours. In terms of health messages, the paper evaluates the methods of persuasion found to be most successful. It provides an analysis of a successful intervention, in which a target audience was motivated to adopt a health-enhancing choice. The paper concludes by examining the principles that can be drawn from successful interventions, in terms of changing a target audience's health behaviours. The focus is on those that can be applied to situations in which a health practitioner hopes to convince the patient to adhere to a preventive regime.