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Health Education Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, 107-115, 1996
© 1996 Oxford University Press

other

Reactions to health education among men

L.K. Meillier, A.B. Lund1 and G. Kok2

Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus Building 2C, Nørrebrogade 44, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
1Institute of Communication Studies, University of Roskilde PO Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
2Department of Health Education, University of Limburg PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

User response to written health education materials has been relatively under-researched. The present study aims to provide some illumination of consumer reactions to health information in the context of education concerned with the prevention of coronary heart disease. The study is based on in-depth, qualitative interviews with 21 Danish men 40 years of age who were selected from the Danish National Birth Register of inhabitants of the municipalities of Aarhus and Vejle. The men were interviewed about their attitudes to health education and how they were able to use the information provided in their everyday lives. Interviews were based on the Grounded Theory approach. The interviewees displayed six main reactions to the health advice they received: avoidance, self-reproach, dismissal, decision to continue with their unhealthy behaviour, confirmation of behaviour they had already adopted and motivation to undertake behaviour change. These reactions were consistent with the tenets of Prochaska and DiClemente's Transtheoretical model. It is concluded that health educators must not have unrealistic expectations about the effectiveness of written materials, and should take account of different kinds and stages of readiness to act in their client groups.


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 Science CommunicationHome page
L. K. MEILLIER, A. B. LUND, and L. U. GERDES
The Backpack Function of Health Education: Use of Knowledge Types Concerning Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease
Science Communication, March 1, 1997; 18(3): 216 - 237.
[Abstract]


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