9.4 -
Ethnicity
and the Transtheoretical Model of Behavioural Change
Learning Journey "Stop-See-Learn" Spot #6 of 6
The School of Health Sciences, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore
A Simple Application of TTM to Ethnicity
Physical activity and poor fruit/vegetable intake are contributors of health disparities among African Americans in the figure below. In order to design effective interventions to address these behaviors, it is essential to assess where individuals are in terms of their attitudes and decisions. The aim of this study was to use the TTM to assess attitudes and decisions regarding pertinent health behaviors and provide suggestions about how to address them . Based on the figure below, you would notice difference in the attitudes.
How would you use this information in the TTM?
Summary
In this lesson we try to apply our knowledge of Sociology to see how we can adapt the TTM to our patients. From sociology, we learn about how individual patients are programmed to behave in a certain way. Such social programming can result in decision makings that might be beneficial or detrimental to individual patients.
This is the reason why health or medical counselling cannot be made in a vacuum but must be mapped to an understanding of our patients' social background is crucial towards helping the patients shift their behaviour. Once an understanding of the social background of the patients background is developed further, you may then find that a tool like the TTM may become a lot more useful.
References
Ranta, E., Pulak, C., & Hockstad, A. (n.d.). The Transtheoretical model. Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://transtheoreticalhl250.weebly.com/
