Korean Culture: The Health Belief Model

The Health Belief Model was originally created in hopes they would be able to explain and predict health behaviors based off the attitudes and beliefs of individuals. (Health Belief Model, 2012) A doctor's view point can vary from a patient's view point and by better understanding how an individual sees themselves, it could lead to a better understanding of what motivates that person to see medical help and to follow the advice given to them. (Spector, 2013, p. 70) The perceptions of this model include susceptibility, seriousness, and benefits. Perceived susceptibility determines how likely a person is to get a disease/condition. The book uses breast cancer as an example. If a woman has more than one person on her mother's side of the family who has had / died from breast cancer, it puts her at a higher risk for developing it. However, if a woman does not have any history of breast cancer on her mother's side of the family, then she is considered a lower risk. Perceived seriousness determines, "the degree of a problem's seriousness varies from one person to
Within the Korean culture, the preferred method of health care is Hanbang. Otherwise known as oriental medicine. This includes, "observing patients, obtaining histories or illness, listening to patients' voices, and taking their pulse." The preferred treatment consists of "acupuncture, herbs,moxibustion, and cupping." (Shin, Shin & Blanchette) There are some individuals who may alternate between western medicine and traditional Korean medicine. Because of this, some providers may discourage the patients from seeing the other. This alone can cause conflict between the provider and patient. It's important, as stated in the article, to try and build a bridge between these two practices. In order to determine the patient's problem, it's important to