1991/01/01 by Craig K. Ewart · 291 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · #Action (physics) #Applied psychology #Community Health and Development #Community psychology #Medicine #Psychology #Psychotherapist #Public health #Social psychology
paper · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.46.9.931
published in American Psychologist 46(9), 931-946 (American Psychological Association)
openalex publication_date 1991/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Many illnesses can be prevented or limited by altering personal behavior, and public health planners have turned to psychology for guidance in fostering self-protective activity.A social theory of personal action provides an integrative framework for applying psychology to public health, disclosing gaps in our current understanding of self-regulation, and generating guidelines for improving health promotion at the population level.A social action view emphasizes social interdependence and interaction in personal control of health-endangering behavior and proposes mechanisms by which environmental structures influence cognitive action schemas, self-goals, and problem-solving activities critical to sustained behavioral change.Social action theory clarifies relationships between social and personal empowerment and helps explain stages of self-change.