ABSTRACT
The Risk Behavior Diagnosis Scale was developed by Kim Witte in 1995; an article detailing its development and reliability and validity information, however, was published in 1996 by Witte, Cameron, McKeon, and Berkowitz. The scale follows the tenets of the Extended Parallel Processing Model, which explains that when people experience a health threat, they must handle the potential danger by controlling either the threat or their fear of it; this is done by weighing the perceived chance of risking the threat (perceived threat) against behavior that would have to be taken to protect themselves against it (perceived efficacy). When both threat and efficacy are high, people are more likely to follow doctors’ orders, but when threat is high and efficacy is low, they then reject doctors’ orders through avoidance or denial. When either threat or efficacy is low, health professionals must target messages to those areas. The scale provides health professionals with a quick and easy way to identify low threat and low efficacy.
