Health Education Research Advance Access originally published online on January 4, 2005
Health Education Research 2005 20(3):274; doi:10.1093/her/cyg128
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Health Education Research Vol.20 no.3, © Oxford University Press 2004; All rights reserved
Editorial |
Theory and health behavior: are we making progress?
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, USA
In this issue we have two articles and two commentaries addressing the topics of theory development and theory use in our field. These are informative, thoughtful pieces on a topic of major importance to health education and health promotion. The article by Noar and Zimmerman (2005)
posits that our use of theory and theory testing as now conducted are problematic from the point of view of advancing our theoretical understanding of health behavior. They propose additional theory comparison research as a means out of this. In a largely sympathetic commentary Weinstein and Rothman (2005) expand on Noar and Zimmerman's observation. They argue that weaknesses in research designs and problems in how researchers approach the research enterprise contribute importantly to our lack of substantial progress. While not disputing the main thrust of the Noar and Zimmerman article, Nigg and Jordan (2005) argue that factors external to the research enterprise itself, such as funding priorities and peer review practices, among others, may be contributing to the current state of affairs as well. Together, these three articles urge more careful and critical approaches to advancing theory development in our field.
In a fourth article, Trifiletti and colleagues (2005) offer an informative review of the use of behavioral and social science theories in the field of unintentional injury prevention research. They report use of a limited number of theories in this area and very little theory testing per se. Their identification of various ways in which theory has been used is a useful way to assess the potential multiple linkages between theory and public health efforts. Clearly their review is a call for greater collaborative theory based research in this emerging public health field.
HER is committed to continuing a dialogue on theory, its development and its role in health education and health promotion. We welcome comments on these specific articles, as well as additional articles on this topic.
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 Top References |
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Nigg, C. R. and Jordan, P. J. (2005) It's a difference of opinion that makes a horserace...Health Education Research, 20, 291–293.
Noar, S. M. and Zimmerman, R. S. (2005) Health Behavior Theory and cumulative knowledge regarding health behaviors: are we moving in the right direction? Health Education Research, 20, 275–290.
Trifiletti, L. B., Gielen, A. C., Sleet, D. A. and Hopkins, K. (2005) Behavioral and social sciences theories and models: are they used in unintentional injury prevention research? Health Education Research, 20, 298–307.
Weinstein, N. D. and Rothman, A. J. (2005) Revitalizing research on health behavior theories. Health Education Research, 20, 294–297.
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