The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a popular framework for understanding and driving health behavior change.

The model assumes a fairly rational assessment of susecptibility and severity of health risks and an individual's perceived barriers and benefits to performing the behavior influence the action in the presence of sufficient self-efficacy and cues to perform the behavior. It is a very widely utilized model, particularly in health policy in the United States.

It should be noted that the assessment of threats and benefits is an error-prone process affected by limited attention, bounded rationality, and misuse of certain cognitive heuristics.