Applying the health belief model to the prediction of attendance at health checks in general practice.

This paper reports a prospective study which sought to assess the role of the health belief model (HBM) in predicting attendance at health checks in general practice. Conducted in a single practice, 299 patients were invited to attend a health check. These patients were sent invitation letters containing either an appointment or an open invitation. The results first showed that the sending of appointment letters led to a higher attendance rate (59.2 vs. 26.5 percent). Second, when the predictors of attendance behaviour were considered it was found that, compared with non-attenders, those who attended in response to an appointment letter were more likely to have intended to attend while those who attended in response to an open letter were more likely to have placed a high value on their health. These results are consistent with Marteau et al.'s (1992) claim that attendance at screening should be viewed as a heterogeneous behaviour, such that the health beliefs which distinguish attenders from non-attenders should be seen to vary according to the way in which patients are invited.