FACILITATING BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE IN THE PERSON

Facilitating Behavioural Change In The Person With A Health Behaviour That Puts Them At Risk Of Illness

Facilitating Behavioral Change In The Person With A Health Behavior That Puts Them At Risk Of Illness

Health -related behavior is one of the most vital elements to the public's health and well-being. Its importance has grown during the past century, as sanitation has improved and medicine has advanced so that once deadly or incurable diseases can be prevented or successfully treated. Thus, health -related behavior is an increasing focus of attention in public health and improving health -related behavior is central to public health activities.

The major causes of death in the United States and other developed countries are chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke. The causes of each of these diseases include health risk behaviors. Behavioral factors are thought to contribute to almost half of the deaths in the United States. The most common behavioral contributors to mortality, or death, in 2000 were tobacco, poor diet and physical inactivity, and alcohol use; other significant causes of death include firearms, sexual behavior, motor vehicle crashes, and illicit use of drugs. These behaviors were responsible for nearly one million deaths in just a single year (Mokdad et al., 2004). The resurgence of infectious diseases, including foodborne illness and tuberculosis, and the emergence of new infectious diseases such as antibiotic-resistant infections, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and human papillomavirus (HPV) are also influenced by human behaviors. Of the 12 leading causes of death, behavioral factors are related to all of them. The social and economic costs related to these behaviors can all be greatly reduced by changes in individuals' behaviors.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in public, private, and professional interest in preventing disability and death through changes in lifestyle behaviors and participation in screening programs. Much of this interest has been stimulated by changes in disease patterns from infectious to chronic diseases as leading causes of death, the aging of the population, rapidly escalating health -care costs, and data linking individual health risk behaviors to increased rates of morbidity and mortality.

Although there is more information about what constitutes healthy behavior and risk factors than ever before, this has not always led people to practice healthier behaviors. There have been some positive changes: In the United States in the late 1980s and 1990s, average daily intake of dietary fat dropped from 36% to 34% of total energy, seat belt use increased from 42% to 67%, and the number of women over the age of 40 who had breast exams and mammograms doubled. However, not all the news is favorable. More adults and children are overweight. Diabetes is increasing in near-epidemic proportions. More adolescents are sexually active. After major increases in seat belt use in the early 1990s, rates declined slightly and remain at 67%, well below the target rate of 85% (NCHS, 2001). One-fifth of children under three years old have not received a basic ...