title: Using the Health Belief Model to explain patient involvement in patient safety.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With the knowledge that patient safety incidents can significantly impact patients, providers and health-care organizations, greater emphasis on patient involvement as a means to mitigate risks warrants further research.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To understand whether patient perceptions of patient safety play a role in patient involvement in factual and challenging patient safety practices and whether the constructs of the Health Belief Model (HBM) help to explain such perceptions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Partial least squares (PLS) analysis of survey data.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four inpatient units located in two tertiary hospitals in Atlantic Canada. Patients discharged from participating units between November 2010 and January 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  None.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 217 of the 587 patient surveys were returned for a final response rate of 37.0%. The PLS analysis revealed relationships between patient perceptions of threat and self-efficacy and the performance of factual and challenging patient safety practices, explaining 46 and 42% of the variance, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results from this study provide evidence for the constructs and relationships set forth by the HBM. Perceptions of patient safety were shown to influence patient likelihood for engaging in selected patient safety practices. While perceptions of barriers and benefits and threats were found to be a contributing factor to patient involvement in patient safety practices, self-efficacy plays an important role as a mediating factor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the use of the HBM within patient safety provides for increased understanding of how such perceptions can be influenced to improve patient engagement in promoting safer health care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Bishop
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: G Ross
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: Canada Research Chair in Quality Assurance in Community Pharmacy, Department of Information Systems, Gerald Schwartz School of Business, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada.
authors.forename: Todd A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.affiliation: James L Winkle College of Pharmacy, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Neil J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: MacKinnon
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology; D061214:Patient Safety; D012307:Risk Factors; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Health Belief Model; partial least squares; patient involvement; patient safety; survey