Low Physical Activity in Hispanic Women - Essay Example

There are also the barriers of costs to be incurred which is similar to one of the reasons of the authors and equally the chances of experiencing the risks. There were the theories that were chosen as the basis for the program include; HBM meaning health belief model, SE (self-efficacy), and the SLT theory which means social learning theory. According to HBM, a person’s health-related behavior depends on several factors like the severity of the illness, the person’s susceptibility to the illness, and the importance and the barriers to taking precautionary actions. The HBM theory was preferred by many researchers because it emphasizes knowledge and perception which seemed appropriate to a population to which the health outcome of preventive behavior.

The SE theory is based on the misconceptions among Hispanics about the relationship between certain risk behaviors and diseases given that mistaken belief can provide a false discernment of the need for change. The SLT theory manifests human behavior as an interactive way between environmental, behavioral, and personal factors (Slattery, pg.38).

In the SLT theory, reinforcement, observational learning, self-control, behavioral capability, and emotional coping responses together with SE are principal constructs in SLT. There are also other constructs like environmental factors which affect behavior. These factors can be particularly important for enhancing physical activities among Hispanic women for various reasons. The term environment refers to the social environment, which includes friends, family members, and peers, which is part of the Hispanic culture. This affects Hispanic women because family members play a big role in giving them an emotional support system. The environmental factors also include factors like time, place, and facilities which are important in promoting health in the Hispanic communities and because of poverty,  they lack space for the exercises (Eyler,253).

The HBM theory emphasizes that knowledge and perception seemed to be appropriate for a population to which a health outcome of a preventive behavior may never be presented. Therefore, both the positive benefits and the negative barriers are principal constructs of HBM. Although SE is a major construct of SLT, it is believed to have confidence that people have in performing a behavior in a specific situation. It is significantly associated with the adoption and maintenance of an exercise program and hence associated positively with physical activity among older women.