Perceived Benefits
This is related to “how will I benefit if I take the recommended course of action”? Individuals must feel that the recommended behavior will be successful in protecting them from the health problem of concern. They must have confidence in the behavior, the vaccine, or the screening procedure in order for them to undertake the practice. The perception of a positive benefit is very important for the public to want to adopt a preventive action. For example, confidence in the efficacy of the flu vaccine should increase the likelihood of seeking the vaccine.
Perceived Barriers
The perception of any negative consequences of taking a preventive action is represented under perceived barriers. These could be in the form of high cost, taking too much time, transportation issues, childcare issues, or being painful. Experts report that practicing safe sex represents a host of barriers, particularly to adolescents, that must be addressed for more successful adherence to recommendations.
Of all the four belief categories of the model, perceived barriers have the greatest predictive value of whether or not people will practice the behavior. In other words, if people see strong reasons for their not following preventive action, it is very likely that they will not take action. This is important information for health promotion program developers.