Protection motivation theory: what it is and what it explains.

A theory that talks about what drives us to adopt healthy habits.

People tend to act differently when our health is threatened.

These differences have been explained by various theories within health psychology. Today we will learn about one of them, Rogers' protection motivation theory.

The theory states that people can perform many effective and low-cost behaviors to reduce their risk of becoming ill. But what does it depend on whether or not we perform such behaviors? We will see it next.

Psychology of health

The term health psychology was first proposed by Matarazzo in 1982, who defined this discipline as a set of contributions from education, science and psychology, which aim to promote and maintain health, as well as prevent and treat disease.

To maintain or improve health, people practice health behaviors (e.g., smoking cessation (e.g. quitting smoking, walking 30 min. a day,...).

We are going to analyze the components of the protective motivation theory that make the implementation of these behaviors possible.

Protection motivation theory

The protection motivation theory was proposed in 1975 by R. W. Rogers, and reformulated in 1987 by Rippetoe and Rogers. The theory proposes the protection motivation variable to explain health behaviors..

Thus, motivation drives the behavioral coping process and ultimately triggers the behavior (Umeh, 2004; Milne et al., 2002).

More specifically, for a health behavior to be triggered, a worry behavior must first be manifested. This, in turn, will arise from the combination of two elements that we will see below. From these two evaluations will arise the motivation to act, which will guide the coping response to finally manifest the behavior.

1. Threat appraisal

Fear of illness or harm predisposes one to act (e.g., when one is smoking). (e.g., when smoking and coughing a lot).

In turn, this element is composed of the perception of severity (the possible harm to be suffered) and susceptibility (the level of risk in which the person is), in addition to the intrinsic benefits of the risk behavior.

2. Evaluation of coping behavior

This is the person's perceived likelihood of success, i.e., the perception that his or her response will be effective in reducing the threat, in addition to the perception of self-efficacy (the person will be able to take preventive measures).

These variables will provide the individual with a perspective on the costs and benefits of performing the behavior..

How is the health behavior arrived at?

The cognitive responses that are triggered from these two evaluations, will be added to the person's belief system..

The result will be that the person will end up generating adaptive or maladaptive responses, depending on whether or not he/she finds a degree of relationship between the threat and the preventive behavior (i.e., whether or not he/she believes that the threat will be reduced by his/her behavior).

In the context in which the person is and where he/she interacts, a series of facilitators or inhibitors are found, which mediate such behaviors..

Evaluation of coping behavior

The most important aspect of the theory of protection motivation is the person's evaluation of his or her coping behavior, already discussedalready discussed.

Thus, a positive evaluation (believing that he/she will be able to perform the behavior and that it will reduce the risk of becoming ill) will motivate the person to take actions in benefit of his/her health.

Examples of this could be avoiding alcohol or cigarette consumption, exercising, taking less sugar, etc., and so on.taking less sugars, etc.

Applications: the health field

The theory of protective motivation has been studied in medicine. For example, a paper by Milne et al (2002) highlighted the importance of motivation in predicting behavioral intention in the care and prevention of coronary Heart disease, although it is not the only variable involved.

Behavioral intentionality is also key to is also key to increasing adherence to treatment, for example in the case of children.for example in the case of children with disease.

However, it is not always the case that when a person feels fear of a threat to his or her health, this triggers preventive behavior. For this, there must also be a positive evaluation of the coping behaviors, i.e., a belief that the behavior will be effective.

In addition, the intentionality of the behavior is necessary, but not always sufficient since, as we have seen, other variables often intervene.

These variables modulate such intentionality. Some of them are having or not the opportunity to carry out the behavior, the information available to us, the willpower or the ability to maintain motivation.

Bibliographical references:

• Milne, Sarah et al. (2002). Combining motivational and volitional interventions to promote exercise participation: Protection motivation theory and implementation intentions.British Journal of Health Psychology, n.7.pp.163-184.
• Umeh, Kanayo. (2004). Cognitive Appraisals, Maladaptive Coping, And Past Behaviour In Protection Motivation. Psychology and Health, V.19, n 6, pp.719-735. London.
• Salamanca, A. and Giraldo, C. (2012). Cognitive and social cognitive models in prevention and health promotion. Revista Vanguardia Psicológica, 2(2), 185-202.