¶ … practice Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change by applying it to a situation presented in a YouTube video. The constructs of the model are highlighted as well as their explanation. The second part of the paper looks at the increasing rate of HIV infection in African-American women. The paper provides statistics on the health of African-American women in regard to HIV.
Decisional Balance
The construct of decisional balance, demands individual attention to an issue before one takes action. In the YouTube video, it may appear as though the man who infected the women with the HIV virus is the villain; it was his responsibility to disclose his health status to his sexual partners. However, the women had not made the right decisions regarding the relationship with the man. They seem not to have considered the pros and cons before indulging in the affair. HIV is a critical world health issue and the women in the video appear to be well educated and enlightened they should have considered the decision they were making concerning their health. The core of the construct of decisional balance involves consideration of...
Had any of the women thought carefully and made the right decision based on this construct at the precontemplation stage, the outcome would have been different.
Transtheoretical Model
Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of Behavior Change would be most appropriate for addressing the concern of rising HIV rates among African-American women, because it is the dominant model of health behavior change. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2007), the HIV issue affecting the African-American women is related to lifestyle choices. African-American women are more than 10 times more likely to be infected with the HIV virus. Data suggest that the leading cause of infection is unprotected sexual intercourse.
The Transtheoretical Model invoves a change process through stages. The first one is precontemplation, where one is not willing to take action and is not aware of the problems associated with the behavior. Then contemplation, where one recognizes the problems with their behavior, weighing the pros and the cons. Preparation stage is where one is ready…
