ABSTRACT
Health is multidimensional and requires a comprehensive approach to health promotion that includes psychological aspects of health. This chapter discusses how many fall short of standards set for good health and that traditional recommendations for improving health and reducing disease risk require personal, self-initiated behavior change which seems simple, but is really quite challenging. The chapter further argues that what underlies many of the barriers to good health may be the degree to which people feel motivated to maintain health behavior changes. In this chapter, self-identity, and how it fits within existing health behavior change theories such as the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Health Belief Model, is introduced as a possible mechanism to motivate people to maintain health behavior changes
