Factors related to preventive health behavior: implications for social work intervention.

As acute and infectious diseases become controlled, further improvement in the health status of a population increasingly depends on prevention. Social workers are frequently involved in activities designed to influence individuals and groups to use preventive services or engage in health-maintaining practices. Understanding the determinants of preventive health behavior should contribute to the effectiveness of these social work activities. Therefore, this article reviews numerous empirical studies of preventive health behavior and attempts to integrate them into a theoretical framework. A series of factors that may serve as barriers or supports to preventive health behavior are identified, and their implications for social work intervention are discussed.