1991/01/01 by Craig K. Ewart · 27 citations
Health Professions · #Community Health and Development
paper · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.46.9.931
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.