The Effects of Behavioral Changes on the Health of an Individual and the Effectiveness of the Nudge Theory

The following paper discusses the effect of behavior and behavior change on individuals' health. It additionally discusses the effectiveness of the nudge theory in influencing healthy behavior change. It contrasts the proximal factors of behavioral change with the distal factors and how distal factors are transformed by cognitive and social instruments into proximal. Moreover, it will demonstrate how behavioral changes are advantageous and the barriers to achievement of these changes. The paper, through a review of different articles will then show how behavior change is crucial in shaping policies regarding public health.

The interaction between an individual's behavior and his health is a three tier relationship. First, behaviors can directly predispose one to diseases such as through smoking, unprotected sexual intercourse and consumption of alcohol. On the other hand, behaviors that can reduce the chances of contracting illnesses include involving in habitual activities like exercising, dieting and regular medical checkups. The second tier of this behavior-health relationship is defined through how behaviors can increase the chances of contracting diseases. An example in this category is how consumption of cholesterol ridden foods can increase the chances of individual contracting diabetes. The last tier of this relationship is defined through how behaviors can lead to the opportune discovery of the diseases before the ailment reaches its last prognostic stages.

There are several theories that define behavior change. One of these theories is the nudge theory. The theory is applied through the provision of hints and nudges at a subliminal level to motivate victims of unhealthy behavior by presenting them with the positive effects of the healthy behavior in an enchanting manne. Campaigns that use nudge theory may use color to utilize this strategy. In this sense, the color red may be used to signify danger and may thereby be incorporated to campaigns against hazardous habits such as smoking. Such nudges are effective since they are tied to instinctual drives in humans of avoiding danger.

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Distal factors affect behaviors from an indirect approach at a distance. Some of these factors include demography, culture, attitudes, personality, media exposure, emotions and moods of patients. These factors must first be transmitted through a certain process before they can affect individuals to get involved in the behaviors. The process first involves the creation three types of beliefs in the individual; Outcome, normative and efficacy beliefs. These beliefs in turn shape attitudes, self-efficacy and perceived norms in the individuals. The last step in the process is integration with intentions to directly affect a behavior.

Proximal predictors on the other hand take a more direct approach while being used to determine these behaviors. The most proximal determinant is the patient's personal experience. This is because it is only possible to take up a behavior if an individual has had a history with it. Personal intentions and decisions are the next tiers of proximal determinants since they directly connect the individual to the behavior. The furthest tier of proximal predictors is personal affects and cognitions, since they help the individual gauge one's self- efficacy, social beliefs regarding the behavior and his attitude towards the behavior so that he or she can determine his intention.

The change in individual's behavior has several advantages in the scope of medical health. When looking at these advantages, one should pay precedence to the consequence of undertaking the change to the individual and to the entire network of people around him. Moreover, one should also consider the reactions that the individual and his network of people have towards the health based change in behavior. Change will directly and positively affect the individual undertaking it if it leads to improved health or reduced risk of contracting lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular complications. Increase in an individual's self-esteem is also an advantage rooted in changes in behavior such as exercising and quitting smoking.

Moreover the involvement in health based behavioral change has financial advantages to its proponents. For example, behaviors such as consuming alcohol and smoking are expensive to habitually engage in. freeing the patient from such a behavior will thus release funds that could have otherwise got spent in the maintenance of the habit.

No matter the effectiveness of the strategy chosen to implement the change, there are factors that impede the change from happening. One of the barriers is the absence of immediate positive effects of investment in a behavior change. This especially happens to proponents of certain behaviors who were fond of the health-wise hazardous habits. The lack of instantaneous relief in such cases may make them roll back and relapse.

Another barrier to the change strategy is lack of support from the environment or the society. Individuals in marginalized sections of the population are often prone to engaging in hazardous behavior such as consuming alcohol or smoking. Moreover, such populations may even lack information about the hazardous nature of the behaviors due social isolation. Absence of feedback may also predispose victims to relapse since it denies them the moral support and encouragement needed to endure some health based behavioral changes.

Health related behavior changes have been influencing public policy for a long time now. For example, the United Kingdom has been supporting a government initiative to get people to quit smoking since 2010. According to a research by the government, smoking tobacco resulted into the deaths of about 80,000 citizens in 2011. Moreover, secondhand tobacco admitted about 9,500 children with respiratory complication in every year since the study. Therefore, the government started the initiative; that's several factors shaped public policy. For example, the promotion and advertising of tobacco in the press has been banned since. Moreover, colorful displays in shops promoting smoking were also banned in 2015.

Another policy is that tobacco received high taxes. This was after a study showed that people receiving low incomes such as most youth were discouraged by high prices on cigarettes. Moreover, the government vowed to combat smuggled tobacco that was cheaper and untaxed. Policies such as government-backed campaigns propagating the anti-smoking agenda have also been undertaken. The main aims of such campaigns have been to promulgate the idea that smoking is medically hazardous, to prevent the youth from starting smoking, encourage quitting among addicts and to discourage public smoking and in the presence of their families.

Change4life is another campaign shaped by public policy to encourage behavior change in the United Kingdom. Although the campaign is non-governmental, it has a government backed background. Its reach is wide in the sense that it urges local authorities, charities, businesses, schools, community leaders and families to improve the England's health. Its main strategy involves using disarming imagery and cartoons to encourage the public to take up exercising and healthy diets as parts of lifestyle. The government instigated initiative uses such disarming advertisements to mobilize the public to engage in these healthy behaviors.

Health based behavior change is a concept in public health that is based upon the idea that with knowledge of predictors and determinants of behaviors hazardous to the public's health, medical practitioners can hope to change those behaviors so are to improve the health of the public. The predictors are categorized in reference to the directness of their effect to the uptake of a behavior. In essence, proximal predictors refer to those that have a direct link to the behavior while distal predictors lie closer to the actual cause of the behavior but seem withdrawn from the actions of an individual.

With the many benefits that behavioral modifications present, it is essential that the barriers to change be tackled with effective means such as controlling public policies through legislature, community initiatives such as nudge theory and incorporation the of psychological theories such as the nudge theory into behavior change campaigns.

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