The next article in a series of health education model critiques is the Health Belief Model. This model attempts to explain what beliefs and perceptions will prompt someone to promote or not perform a health behavior. The model was developed in the 1950’s by Godfrey Hochbaum, Irwin Rosenstock, Stephen Kegeles, and Howard Leventhal (Janz & Becker, 1984). Understanding the perceptions of the health behavior is key to understanding why someone will or will not do it.
emergency
Risk = Hazard + Outrage
One of the instrumental parts of my research is Dr. Peter Sandman’s Risk Equation: Risk = Hazard + Outrage. I’m not going to rehash the basics of the equation here. To learn more about what the equation is all about, Dr. Sandman does a great job on his website explaining it. I want to spend some time talking about how his risk equation can be applied to diverse populations.
My philosophy on communicating emergency preparedness information with diverse populations
Since this my first blog post, I thought it would be fitting to talk about my philosophy on communicating emergency preparedness information. Where I want to focus is on diverse populations. Many who perform risk communication for public health have a charge from the CDC to reach out to diverse populations (CDC, 2011). One type of diverse population is those who are immigrants or refugees from other countries making the United States their home. There are many who feel that those who come to the US from another country should be following the American culture without any assistance. However, in public health it is our job to make sure everyone’s health is protected. Every day, many in public health are reaching out to their communities of immigrants and refugees to learn more, with mixed success.
Kerry Chamberlain, PhD, MPH 