Cigarette smoking and voluntary control

The social learning theory is a theory which states that the behaviours we demonstrate is determined by the people we surround ourselves with, or our environmental factors. The key concepts of the theory is that people learn through other people, and that people will perform a particular behaviour, depending on whether not they will be rewarded or punished for it, i.e. a child sharing with friends would result in a reward, and it is a behaviour which is learnt from others.

Behaviour will also be carried out based on what they learn from others for example their parents or their friends. The health belief model suggests that an individual will change their behaviours, if they believe that there is a serious threat to their health. This means that if an individual changes their action, the benefit will outweigh the barrier. This means that an individual will undertake the recommended preventative health action, in order to help their health. Other key concepts included within the health belief model are the seriousness and the susceptibility of continuing the desired action, then followed by the actions of prevention and barriers to overcome.

The theory of planned behaviour is a model which was developed as a result of the theory of reasoned action. This theory suggests that the recognition of the behaviour is not under the control of an individual. This means that people will identify what is needed to carry out a behaviour, and what products or resources are needed as a result of this. This can include identifying financial costs and time. If a person has a positive behaviour, they are more likely to have control and they are more likely to consider the behaviours of others.

A health campaign that influences the health is Change4Life. Change for life suggests that children consume an unhealthy amount of sugar from drinking fizzy drinks and it aims to make parents more aware of the health complications that can arise from the consumption of too much sugar. Change4Life aims to make parents change their child’s diet, and introduce a healthier diet plan. Change4Life integrates with the health belief model, as it addresses the negative side of an issue, and believes that it can be replaced with an option which is healthier.

This makes parents understand the health problems and benefits from swapping and changing their child’s diet, and offers guidance on how they can improve their child’s lifestyle, including exercise, 100 calorie snacks, offering different types of meal and snack recipes. It also offers guides on ‘me-sized meals’ that offers guidance on plates and bowls that are child portion friendly, and a food scanner which is able for use in supermarkets or at home to find out how much sugar is in food and drinks.

Another health campaign which influences people to change their behaviour is SmokeFree. This campaigns aims for people to amend their behaviours by showing pictures and videos of the serious consequences for their actions. In 2015, the advert showed the effects that ‘secondary smoking’ can have on children, along with the health issues. They introduced a motto of standing ten steps away from your door, as although parents believed that they weren’t smoking near their children, the children actually consume 80% of the smoke from a cigarette.

In another advert, released in 2008, the advert showed that if a parent smoked, children were more likely to copy the habit, and start at a much younger age. The aim of these adverts were to show parents that the habit they have is actually affecting their child much more then they think. It was designed to put parents off smoking, portraying a negative outlook. By encouraging parents to quit smoking, they are essentially improving their child’s health. The campaign also makes individuals think and encourage that they are able to quit smoking, and offers free stop smoking kits on their website.