Health Policy Perception and Health Behaviours: A Multilevel Analysis and Implications for Public Health Psychology

Abstract

Associations of health policy perception with health behaviours are analysed. Policy perception is differentiated in information about programmes and appraisal of health policy’s contribution to policy goals, and conceptualized on the level of: (1) individuals; and (2) populations (as a social climate indicator). Survey data from the Biomed2-Project MAREPS gathered in Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland ( N= 3343) show that at the individual level, only policy information is associated with utilizing mammography, quitting smoking, physical activity and political participation in creating healthy environments. In contrast, multilevel regression analyses show that policy appraisal is related to physical activity and political participation as a social climate factor. Implications for integrating health psychology and public health within public health psychology are discussed.