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Effectiveness of Using Role Models in Public Health
by Barbara Bryant
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Overview
Role models can encourage healthy behaviors, such as frequent hand-washing.
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Authority figures and celebrities as well as friends and relatives can serve as public health role models through the examples they set. Studies indicate that they can exert this positive influence at home, school, work and through the media. Observers are more likely to follow the examples set by those they want to emulate or people with whom they feel a strong emotional bond.
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Children's Programs
Television shows that feature young characters who follow healthy eating habits can influence children to follow suit, according to a study published in the Cases in Public Health Communication & Marketing journal. Researchers at Bangor University in Wales found that British children who didn't eat many fruits and vegetables voluntarily increased their consumption after watching child cartoon characters doing so on a program called "Food Dudes."
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Celebrities
Entertainment figures, including athletes, are watched closely and can command a lot of attention through the messages they send. Fans of then-NBA basketball player Magic Johnson expressed more interest in learning how to avoid contracting HIV after he announced that he had the disease and warned of its risks. Those who knew about Johnson but weren't fans were less likely to be influenced by his message, a 1995 article in the journal Health Communications reported.
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Teachers
Teachers are important authority figures and role models for children, who quickly learn that gaining teachers' approval brings rewards and improves students' self-esteem. Students tend to notice and might imitate their teachers' eating habits, especially those who teach health courses. This might also be true of other school employees, the North Bay Perry Sound District (Canada) says in its "Nutrition Rules for Schools" fact sheet.
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Co-workers
Senior staff members' healthy behavior on the job can have a positive effect on their subordinates, according to a study published in the February 2003 Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. Researchers found that health care workers were more likely to wash their hands before leaving bathrooms when they saw high-ranking physicians doing so.
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Spouses
By taking the lead, one spouse can encourage the other to adopt healthy behavior, a February 2008 Health Services Research journal article pointed out. In many families, after one spouse has stopped smoking, drinking, using marijuana or had flu shots or cholesterol tests, the other one did so as well.
