Application of Health Belief Model to Treatment of Hispanic Youth Patients

Nursing - Applying Health Belief Model to Alcoholism Treatment and Implication for Healthcare Delivery

Perceived susceptibility

"Perceived susceptibility" is the patient's subjective perception of his/her risk of contracting an illness or disease, which would be alcoholism in the instant case There is significant disparity individual perceptions of personal susceptibility an illness or disease (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48). Application of this key concept to treatment of Hispanic youth patients using or addicted to alcohol may consist of: discerning the populations at risk of becoming alcoholic and their risk levels for alcoholism; personalizing the risk based on an individual patient's characteristics or behavior; and educating the patient in order to more properly align his/her perception with his/her actual risk of becoming alcoholic (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48).

Perceived severity

"Perceived severity" refers to the patient's perception of the seriousness of either contracting or failing to treat an illness or disease. There is significant disparity in a patient's perception of the severity of the possible illness or disease. In addition, when gauging the severity, the patient often weighs the possible medical consequences, such as disability or death, as well as the possible social consequences to his/her social relationships and family life (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48). This key concept can be applied to treatment of Hispanic youth patients using or addicted to alcohol by identifying and communicating the proven consequences of risks and conditions of alcoholism (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48).

3. Perceived benefits

"Perceived benefits" are the patient's perception of the efficacy of available actions to reduce the threat of alcoholism or to cure it. The actions taken by a patient to prevent or cure alcoholism depend on his/her reflection on and estimation of both perceived susceptibility and perceived benefit, such that the patient accepts a recommended action if it is deemed beneficial (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48). This key concept can be applied to treatment of Hispanic youth patients using or addicted to alcohol by discerning the several actions that can be taken, how they can be taken, when they can be taken and where they can be taken, and then advising the patients of the anticipated positive effects of treatment (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48).

4. Perceived barriers

"Perceived barriers" are a patient's perceptions about the obstacles to performing a recommended action. There is significant disparity in a patient's perceptions of barriers or impediments, leading to a cost/benefit analysis. Here, the patient weighs the proposed action's effectiveness against his/her perceptions that the action may be expensive, have dangerous side-effects, be unpleasant or painful, take a considerable amount of time, or be too inconvenient (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48). The "perceived barriers" concept can be applied to treatment of Hispanic youth patients using or addicted to alcohol by identifying and reducing perceived barriers through reassuring the patient, correcting misinformation about barriers or impediments, providing incentives for cooperating with treatment, and assisting the patient in cooperating with the treatment (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48).

5. Cue to action

"Cue to action" is the motivation triggering acceptance of a suggested health action. These cues can be internal, such as "hangovers" or other physical discomfort from use of or addiction to alcohol, or external, such as advice, published information, or a family member's illness from use of or addiction to alcohol (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48). "Cues to action" can be applied to treatment by promoting awareness of use of or addiction to alcohol, supplying how-to instructions for treating alcoholism, encouraging awareness and using relevant reminders (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48).

6. Self-efficacy

"Self-efficacy" is the patient's confidence in his/her ability to effectively implement a behavior. This key concept was added to the health belief model in the mid-1980s and is a facet of numerous behavioral theories because it directly relates to whether or not the patient performs the desired behavior (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48). Finally, the key concept of "self-efficacy" can be applied to the treatment of Hispanic youth patients who use or are addicted to alcohol in several ways, by: giving training and guidance to patients for their implementation of the desired behavior; using and consistently honing goal setting; verbally reinforcing the desired behavior; demonstrating the desired behavior to the patient; and reducing the patient's anxiety (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008, p. 48).

7. Application of Key Concepts

As Ganz et al. indicate, applying key concepts is ideally a multifaceted approach. In the case of Hispanic youths, for example, in a 2012 study entitled "Comparison across two generations of prospective models of how the low level of response to alcohol affects alcohol outcomes," researchers found that misperceptions of the benefits of heavy use of alcohol among youths is influenced by a combination of factors: genetic low level of sensitivity to alcohol, causing the use of greater amounts of alcohol to induce its pleasurable effects; peer drinking; and observations of alcohol use for dealing with stress by heavy-drinking peers (Schuckit, et al., 2012, p. 198). However, researchers have also found that while a great deal of alcohol advertising specifically targets Hispanic youths (Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, 2005), Hispanic youths are also less likely to be influenced by such advertising than are non-Hispanic youths (Martino, et al., 2016, p. 89). Furthermore, a 2010 study examining the effects of individual, family and school factors in adolescent substance use concluded that found that Hispanics evince a higher incidence of substance (i.e. alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana) than did all non-Hispanic adolescents and concluded that factors in the individual, family and school must be specifically identified in the local population and addressed in "tailored intervention" (Shih, Miles, Tucker, Zhou, & D'Amico, 2010, p. 642).

Armed with this information, the nurse practitioner and staff can survey and observe the local population, including individuals, families and schools, and compose a profile of Hispanic youths at risk for alcohol use or addiction. Applying that profile to individual patients, the nurse practitioner can create tailored literature and obtain general health literature on the effects of alcohol use and alcoholism. Also applying that profile, the nurse practitioner can apply it individually to discern the individual patient's use, addiction and risks. he/she can then develop training for the patients, develop possible healthful courses of action for the patients, educate the patients and develop encouraging examples and anxiety-reducing measures, all based on the established profile(s) and tailored and published literature about alcoholism.