Health promotion programs for adolescents : bases for selection of targeted health issues

The study investigated the perceptual dimensions which underlie the selection of health issues for inclusion in health promotion programs for adolescents. It was hypothesized that gender would not mediate the selection process. It was also hypothesized that the perceptual dimensions which underlie the selection of issues would be severity and susceptibility, two components of the health belief model (Rosenstock, 1974b). Four hundred fifty-one members of a national society for adolescent medicine were surveyed by mail. Data were analyzed using Multidimensional Scaling techniques (Schiffman, Reynolds, & Young, 1981). Results confirmed severity as an underlying perceptual dimension upon which health issues were selected for inclusion in health promotion programs. However, the data did not support susceptibility as an underlying dimension of the selection process. Implications of findings for health professionals are discussed.