Discuss why reporting the "cause of death" in this manner is rather misleading. (hint: what are the actual causes of death? ) how might the fact that the reporting is different than the actual case affect how an individual approaches health behavior and changes?

Social and Behavioral Theories

1. Learning Objectives

After reviewing this chapter, readers should be able to:

• Define what theory is and identify two key types of social and behavioral science theory

that are relevant to public health interventions.

• Describe the key constructs of four theories that are often used in public health

interventions: the Health Belief Model, The Transtheoretical Model and stages of change,

Social Cognitive Theory, and the Social Ecological Model.

• Understand the nature of evidence about the relative effectiveness of theory-based

interventions.

• Identify the most important considerations in choosing the right theory to address a

health behavior problem in a particular population and context