The potential of socio-psychological models for the development of prevention programs (Part 1)

This paper considers the problem of designing prevention programs in health and disease. We note that smoking cessation on the planet would reduce mortality from various types of cancer by 25%, and would also save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who die each year from heart attacks. Losing weight by only 10% through proper nutrition and exercise would reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease, as well as certain types of cancer. Based on the literature review, we reveal the different types of prevention, show the importance of preventive measures aimed at the patient's immediate environment. Among the main difficulties associated with the development of effective prevention programs we discuss the following: 1) ignoring the psychological mechanisms of behavior change; 2) irrelevance of media broadcast methods in prevention campaigns; 3) the time between the problem behavior and its negative effects on health. We discuss the potential of social influence models for the development of prevention programs in the field of health and disease.

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