Application of the Health Belief Model in Collectivist Cultures: Conceptual Framework To Design Educational Intervention For Obesity Prevention

Abstract

The high prevalence of obesity reported for collectivist communities prompted the need for culturally relevant programmes for obesity prevention. The differences in cultures based on the value system shared by various groups could be identified based on five cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1996): collectivism versus individualism, femininity versus masculinity, long-term versus short-term orientation, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. Research has shown that the individualism and collectivism dimensions account for most of the variance in global differences. There are few studies on healthy eating determinants in collectivist communities. The use of Health Belief Model (HBM) to identify weight-related beliefs in collectivist cultures can be effective for developing obesity prevention programmes.