Free Essay: Elaboration on the Role of Non-Health Factors in Behavior Change

Many non-health factors may make a person to adopt a healthy behavior or to undertake actions aimed at preventing illness or disease. One of these factors is verbal persuasion (Picha & Howell, 2018; Sacomori, Berghmans, Mesters, de Bie, & Cardoso, 2015). Verbal persuasion occurs when a person is encouraged or motivated by another person to perform a specific task, or action, or to change behavior. For example, an individual may be encouraged by his or her friend to engage in daily physical exercise for at least 30 minutes per day without necessarily aiming at achieving a particular health goal.

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Another non-health factor that may make a person adopt a healthy behavior is modeling. When an individual is surrounded by role models that are currently engaging in healthy behaviors such as consuming recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day, s/he is more likely to adopt the same behavior without the need to accomplish a specific health goal. For example, it has been established that parents are good role models for their children in physical activity behaviors (Xu, Wen, & Rissel, 2015). Children tend to engage in physical activity if their parents practice the same behavior (Erkelenz, Kobel, Kettner, Drenowatz, & Steinacker, 2014; Maatta, Ray, & Roos, 2014).

Determining whether it is a Limitation or Just Something That May Happen for Some and Not for Others

I believe that this cannot be generalized as a limitation because not all people can be influenced by non-health factors to perform health-related actions. Additionally, the extent to which non-health factors influence behavior change varies from one person to another. For instance, despite the presence of role models for physical activity, some people may not engage in recommended daily physical exercise.

References

Erkelenz, N., Kobel, S., Kettner, S., Drenowatz, C., & Steinacker, J. M. (2014). Parental activity as influence on children's BMI percentiles and physical activity. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 13(3), 645-650. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4126304/

Maatta, S., Ray, C., & Roos, E. (2014). Associations of parental influence and 10-11-year-old children's physical activity: Are they mediated by children's perceived competence and attraction to physical activity? Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 42(1), 45-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494813504506

Picha, K. J., & Howell, D. M. (2018). A model to increase rehabilitation adherence to home exercise programs in patients with varying levels of self-efficacy. Musculoskeletal Care, 16(1), 233-237. https://doi.org/10.1002/msc.1194

Sacomori, C., Berghmans, B., Mesters, I., de Bie, R., & Cardoso, F. L. (2015). Strategies to enhance self-efficacy and adherence to home-based pelvic floor muscle exercises did not improve adherence in women with urinary incontinence: A randomized trial. Journal of Physiotherapy, 61(4), 190-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphys.2015.08.005

Xu, H., Wen, L. M., & Rissel, C. (2015). Associations of parental influences with physical activity and screen time among young children: A systematic review [Research article]. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/546925