Analysis of Pender's Health-Promotion Behaviour Model

Abstract

Pender's Health-promotion Behaviour Model (HPBM) will be the focus of this paper. The model components will be analyzed, research related to the model will be presented to examine its validity, perceived benefits will be synthesized, and new questions and issues that assess the model's usefulness and approximation to the real world will be outlined. Analysis of Components Pender's model (Figure 1) attempts to provide a complementary counterpart to models of health-protecting behaviour, specifically the Health Belief Model developed in the 1950s by Rosenstock, Hochbaum, and Kegeles (Becker, 1984). Salient dimensions of the Health Belief Model are goal-setting that is based on perceived consequences, subjective estimates of desired outcomes, and decision-making under uncertainty. The Health Belief Model is disease and action-sepcific. Rather than focusing on behaviour that is directed toward decreasing the probability of encountering illness, Pender's model focuses on movement of the individual toward increased health and well-being. She developed the model because of her belief that health is a positive state in its own right, rather than simply the opposite of a negative state (illness).