Historical origins of the health belief model

Abstract

I t is always difficult to trace the historical development of a theory that has been the subject of considerable direct study and has directly or indirectly spawned a good deal of additional research. This is certainly true of the Health Belief Model, perhaps even more than usual because the Model grew out of a set of independent, applied research problems with which a group of investigators in the Public Health Service were confronted between 1950 and 1960. Thus, the theory and development of the Model grew simultaneously with the solution of practical problems. Two classes of circumstances should be described which were largely responsible for the type of model that ultimately emerged. These concern the settings in which research was required and the training and background experiences of those who participated in the development of the Model. HEALTH SETTINGS During the early 1950s the Public Health Service was for the mos