The protection motivation theory: what it is and what it explains

People tend to act differently when we see our health threatened.

These differences have attempted to be explained by various theories within health psychology. Today we will know one of them, Rogers's protection motivation theory.

The theory posits that people can perform many effective and low-cost behaviors to reduce the risk of disease. But what does it depend on whether or not we execute such behaviors? We will see it below.

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Health Psychology

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

To maintain or improve health, people we practice health behaviors (for example quit smoking, walk 30 min. up to date,...).

We are going to analyze the components of the theory of motivation to protection that make possible the execution of said behaviors.

The 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 variable protection motivation to explain health behaviors.

In this way, motivation is the one that directs the behavioral coping process and the one that finally triggers the behavior (Umeh, 2004; Milne et al., 2002).

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

1. threat assessment

Fear of suffering a disease or damage predisposes to act (for example, when you are smoking and cough a lot).

In turn, this element is made up of the perception of severity (the possible damage to be suffered) and the susceptibility (the level of risk the person is at), in addition to the intrinsic benefits of the risk behavior.

2. Assessment of coping behavior

It is the probability of success perceived by the person, that is, the perception he has that his response will be effective in reducing the threat, In addition to the perception of self-efficacy (the person will be able to adopt preventive measures).

These variables will provide in person a perspective on the costs and benefits of performing the behavior.

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How do you arrive at health behavior?

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

The result will be that this will end up generating adaptive or maladaptive responses, depending on whether it finds a degree of relationship between the threat and preventive behavior (i.e., whether or not you believe that the threat will be reduced from its conduct).

In the context in which the person finds himself and where he interacts, there are a series of facilitators or inhibitors, which will mediate such behaviors.

Assessment of coping behavior

The most important of the protection motivation theory is the person's evaluation of their coping behavior, already commented.

Thus, a positive evaluation (believing that the behavior will be able to be carried out and that it will reduce the risk of getting sick) will motivate the person to take actions to benefit their health.

Examples of this may be avoiding alcohol or cigarettes, exercising, take less sugars, etc.

Applications: the field of health

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

The intention of the behavior also is key to increasing adherence to treatments, for example in the case of children with diseases.

However, not always when the person feels fear of a threat to their health, it triggers preventive behavior. For this, there must also be a positive evaluation of coping behaviors, that is, believing 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 said intentionality. Some of them are having or not having the opportunity to carry out the behavior, the information we have, willpower or the ability to maintain motivation.

Bibliographic 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 Behavior 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 the prevention and promotion of health. Psychological Vanguard Magazine, 2(2), 185-202.