Project Summary: The health belief model (HBM) is a social psychological health behavior change model developed to explain and predict health-related behaviors, particularly in regard to the uptake of health services. The HBM was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists at the U.S. Public Health Service and remains one of the best known and most widely used theories in health behavior research. The HBM posits that messages will achieve optimal behavior change if they successfully target perceived barriers, benefits, self-efficacy, and threat. Many health problems such as hypertension, obesity, and diabetes are associated with unhealthy lifestyles, and drastically higher for low income minority populations. HBM assists practitioners in explaining and predicting health behaviors within its clients/patients.