walk in support of those suffering from mental illnesses
A television commercial by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 2019, announces a walk in support of those suffering from mental illnesses. The walk is a guarantee to individuals suffering from mental illnesses that they are never alone. Living mentally healthy is essential, but it is also a challenge as statistics show that over forty million people in America will experience a mental condition (Ispot.tv, 2019). Mental illness can manifest in the form of depression, multi personal disorders, schizophrenia, and anxiety.
“The Health Benefit Model (HBM) was developed initially in the 1950s by social psychologists in the U.S. Public Health Service to explain the widespread failure of people to participate in programs to prevent and detect disease” (Champion& Skinner, 2020, 46). Later it evolved to study individual responses to symptoms and their compliance with medical treatments. The authors Champion and Skinner in their book state that, “the HBM contains several primary concepts that predict why people will take action to prevent, to screen for, or to control illness conditions; these include susceptibility, seriousness, benefits, and barriers to a behavior, cues to action, and most recently, self-efficacy”(Champion& Skinner, 2020, 46-47). In perceived susceptibility, a person has to believe that they are at risk of mental health issues or an associated negative effect. For most individuals with depression, they find it difficult to ask for help, and they are only alarmed when the level of severity is high. Here, a course of action is suggested to the sick persons, their ability to follow through is influenced by their belief regarding the perceived benefits for reducing the disease threat. During the decision-making process, they have to consider the perceived barriers. The barriers are inclusive of financial constraints, cultural considerations, and gender; for African-Americans and men, mental illness is rarely a subject for discussion as it is a sign of weakness. That is why the commercial by NAMI seeks to include all individuals in their walks and campaigns for mental health, so no one feels ashamed to admit they are sick and require guidance. Media publicity such as the commercial may act as cues to initiate action. The person also decides on how capable they are to carry out the course of action (self-efficacy).
I feel that the HBM theory is successful in explaining the rationale behind a mentally ill patient needing a stimulus to trigger health-promoting behavior. The stimulus, in this case, is the commercial; for most people, the internet is their go-to for solutions. It is cheaper, private, and takes just a few minutes to get results to any search. The commercials find ways to attract all likes of individuals into accepting help. They use celebrities or attach real-life scenarios of people with mental illness, accepting their conditions, and seeking treatment. It also helps to point out at-risk individuals such as teenagers, military veterans, and the ethnic community so that family and friends can listen and help those who need it. The commercials also reduce stigma as there is power in numbers. However, these commercials help to identify that the HBM model has a share of limitations that affect its application in the public health sector. The assumption by the model that all individuals can equally access information on the disease, and it also does not account for the possibility of habitual behaviors influencing the decisions one makes in regards to accepting a course of action.