Free Nursing Dissertations - This Belief Orientated Model Has Been Criticised Mainly On The Reliance It
This belief orientated model has been criticised mainly on the reliance it places on individuals valuing their health. For those who do not value their health it has been proved inadequate and indeed even in considering the effect on women smoking during pregnancy the limitations of using this model are easy to see.
Protection Motivation Theory
Critical to this model are the concepts of threat appraisal and coping appraisal. The threat aspect relates to how likely it is seen by the client that illness will be forthcoming by following a set behaviour and in turn this is linked by a consideration of how will the person will be able to deal with the illness (Conner and Norman, 1995). This model has been applied with some success to the predictions of certain health behaviours and its utility in understanding smoking during pregnancy is quite high. Indeed by using this theory we can see how the two strands of women’s concerns while pregnant, i.e. To give up smoking for the sake of their pregnancy versus the need to continue smoking are played out against each other.
While PMT has been a successful model in ways this success has detracted from its utility as the model now exists with numerous variations and revisions and the lack of a relatively singular articulation of what the model constitutes is a concern for those wishing to apply the model to clinical practice.
Theory of Planned Behaviour
This is a complex model which seeks to consider a number of key factors which influence the behaviour of clients as well as providing clues as to why certain behavioural patterns are favoured more than others. Developed from the theory of Reasoned Action this model proposes analysing the various influences on an individual’s behaviour and seeing what are the resultant actions flowing from these influences. Control is a key element of this model, or the idea of how much control the individual concerned is able to exercise over their actions in relation to the behaviours they wish to follow.
Similarly the model provides an analysis of the proximal determinants of behaviour by highlighting intent to engage in that behaviour and a client’s perceptions of control over that behaviour. Intention in this model forms as a result of attitudes, individually held norms and perceived behavioural control and represents a person’s motivation in their attempt to resolve the behavioural influences. Perceived behavioural control is an individual expectation that performance is under the client’s control, and this factor is influenced by both internal and external factors.






