A common health education strategy for changing behaviors is frequently referred to as Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors (KABB). The principle is that to change one’s behaviors of any kind, one must first change their knowledge, then their attitudes, then their beliefs, and only then will their behaviors change.
Examples in Public Health include using seat belts, mammography, or tobacco cessation. First, you must provide accurate information about the behavior and the benefits and consequences of choosing a behavior or not. Then, one must impact their attitudes to create a favorable environment for choosing the preferred behavior. Beliefs are the most difficult to impact since they are developed over long periods of time and influenced by important people in one’s life: parents, teachers, religious leaders, and social influencers. Once sufficient knowledge has been provided and attitudes and beliefs modified, the desired behavior will likely ensue.
This was the theoretical framework of Kent State University’s School of Public Health research to show that the GRM 8-week group format successfully improves participants’ behaviors related to grief. To learn more about this research, log into the SRC and click the “Evidence-Based Research” tab or go to this link.