Perceived Benefits
This refers to the usefulness a behavior will have in helping the individuals reduce their susceptibility and severity of a health condition. When people are introduced to a new behavior that may help to keep them safe, their adoption of the behavior will depend on the benefits they perceive. Hence, people will make use of health services when they know the kind of benefits they can get from them. People will usually assess a disease and the possible outcomes against what they may get from the recommended behavior and when the benefits outweigh the consequences, they are more likely to change behavior. For a health official, there is the need to make people aware of all the benefits associated with a new action.
Perceived Barriers
People also tend to look at the barriers that may prevent them from adopting the new recommended behavior. When someone analyzes his/her condition and determines that there are no perceived barriers, then change of behavior easily occurs. Perceived barriers may include financial constraints in which case a person may lack the money needed for a new behavior. When people are advised to do something, they will have perceptions of things that may prevent them and for a health official, your duty is to help in identifying and getting rid of them. A new action may come with effects people may not want and this also creates a barrier. Reducing barriers is the best way to get people doing using a new action. Glanz and Maddock (2002) assert that barriers are used in decision making where people consider the advantages and disadvantages of an action.
Cues to Action
Cues to action is a like something that reminds people of the new behavior they need to adopt or something that motivates them towards it. These can be used as a way of making people more aware of the need at the same time letting them know how to go about it. Cues to action strategies can do well in influencing the kind of behavior change required from people. Here, various media can be used and these include posters, radio, TV where you can remind people of the kind of danger they are facing if they will not take up a recommended action. Safety instructions on many products that can easily affect health are a good example of cues to action as it reminds people of what they should be doing or avoiding.