Intro to Public Health: Theories, Planning Models, and Risk Factors

Vocabulary flashcards covering protective versus risk factors, foundational research terminology, and key health behavior theories and planning models.

Protective Factors

Influences that serve as an umbrella or buffer to lessen health risks, such as distributing condoms or medication, sharing educational information, and providing safe needle disposal.

Risk Factors

Conditions or behaviors that increase vulnerability to adverse health outcomes (likened to rain), including sex work, unprotected sex, genetic transmission, and sharing needles.

Construct

A concept that has been deliberately created and developed for use in a theory or model.

Variable

The practical, measurable operationalization specifying how a construct will be measured.

Theory

A structured set of tested ideas that can be used to explain or predict behavior.

Model

A mixture of ideas or concepts drawn from any number of theories and used together.

Theory of Planned Behavior

A framework proposing that behavior is shaped by individual attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms regarding what others think should be done, and perceived behavioral control regarding the ease or difficulty of performing the action.

Health Belief Model

A model addressing individual perceptions of the threat posed by a health problem (susceptibility and severity), the benefits of avoiding the threat, and factors influencing the decision to act (barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy).

Socio-Ecological Model

A framework emphasizing the interaction between and interdependence of factors within and across all levels of a health problem, addressing multiple levels from the individual to public policy.

Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion

A model explaining how persuasive messages aimed at attitude change are received and processed by individuals through either central or peripheral routes.

Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) Model

A framework developed to provide a theoretical foundation for HIV/AIDS prevention interventions, subsequently applied to various health-related risk reduction behaviors.

Intrapersonal Factors

Internal factors within an individual that affect health actions, such as knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, motivation, skills, and behaviors.

Social Cognitive Theory

A theory describing learning as a reciprocal interaction between an individual's personal cognitive processes, their environment, and their behavior.

Social Networks

Webs of social relationships that shift the analytical focus from the individual to interpersonal connections, influencing behavior based on network environment, structural properties, and an individual's position within the network.

Social Network Theory

A theoretical approach examining relationships between and among individuals, specifically analyzing how those social ties shape members' beliefs and behaviors.