Health Belief Model (HBM) for Cyanobacterial Toxin Exposure

Theory + Toxin + Population
Now that you have finished both parts A and B; please go back and review your work. Review your notes from this semester and decide if you need to alter your health behavior change theory, toxin, or population. Note: this should NOT be the same as sections A and B. This is new part of the paper and while there may be some slight repition this is a new section with a new format.
Consider if your initial health behavior change theory matches the environmental toxins you are choosing to explore. Think about:
What is your toxin? How does it impact human health?
Provide 2-4 sources on how your toxin negatively impacts human health?
What populations does it specifically impact?
You should be able to find 2-4 sources that discuss who is most at risk. You may have trouble finding this it is okay to use populations who are more vulnerable to enviornmental conditions specifically. You can find these by searching PubMed for: 'environmental health vulnerable populations'. This can add to your 'jenga tower' (i.e., overall argument) on who is most vulnerable.
What population is able to control or limit exposure of the toxin to the vulnerable population?
You should be able to find 2-4 sources that discuss who is most able to limit exposure to the toxin. Try searching in PubMed: 'occupational exposure' for sources on who controls exposure to toxins in the workplace.
What are the ways your theory has been used effectively to change health behavior in the past?
You will want to find 4-6 examples of how the theory has been used effectively in the past. This does not have to be a 'unicorn' article that perfectly matches your toxin, population(s), and theory - it is unlikely you will find this. Instead, remember, the 'jenga' (i.e., your overall arguement) example from class. It is okay if you have one example of the theory being applied to HIV, and another to tobacco, and the last to physical activity. Your theory will likely have been applied to countless common pulibc health issues. I highly recommend searching PubMed for your theory without anything behind it rather than with qualifiers of health conditions.
What constructs your population will likely need to address to alter behavior to limit exposure to a toxin? (e.g., if exposure is at work but this is the only job they can get – can we reasonably expect that they can change their exposure?)
Remember to consider that we need to apply theories differentially to populations. We discussed this during the debates and Health Case Study 1 & 2. How we apply the constructs of any given theory are different based on your population of interest. For instance, if we are apply the Health Belief Model, each population will have differential ideas for percieved susceptibility of any given health condition, such as smoking cessation. Perhaps a white population may disbelieve that smoking will cause lung cancer due to one or two people they know who smoked a pack a day until they were 90, whereas a Black population may understand smoking is likely to cause cancer but don't believe that the medical system will be able to help them survive cancer and believe they will get cancer from something regardless so they are not worried about smoking. These two differential thoughts have vast implications for how we would intervene with these populations.
Similarly, the population exposed to the toxin may have more motivation for limiting exposure to the toxin whereas the CEO of a company may believe that workers are exposed to the toxin in their life outside of work and not at work. This changes how we would apply the theory to the CEO.
Be careful, also, if you chose the ecological model:
For instance, in the lead example from class if I were to use the ecological model I could talk about interventions on many different levels but I wouldn’t be able to target all of those to people in control of the lead exposure. It actually would be almost impossible to figure out how to use the ecological model on a specific level. If however, I used the Health Belief Model, I could understand that the reason the landlords don’t take off all the paint is because they believe that their tenants are making up how sick their children are, or they might not believe that the paint chips caused the illness. In other words their perceived severity and susceptibility needs to be targeted to get them to change the paint in the apartments they own and rent out.
How will your theory applied to population in control of toxin exposure limit toxin exposure to vulnerable population?
Tie everything together that you have found. In other words this should answer:
Why is the theory you have chosen going to successfully limit exposure to the toxin for the vulnerable population?
How is the population in control you are targetting with your theory going to have the most power to limit exposure to the toxin?
What do you recommend be done to have the most impact on limiting exposure of your toxin to the most vulnerable populations exposed?
Make sure to address how your health behavior, environmental toxin, and population will work together in this project.
All sources must be cited using APA. (Remember, to double check your notes from early in the semester when we went over how to properly cite in APA, ask if you have questions).
Word count 900-1,200.
This part of the assignment will be worth 70 points