What are the patterns of adapting to health?
The Patterns of Adapting to Health (PATH) are naturally occurring patterns that underlie the expression of adult response to diverse health-related contexts. The patterns were identified by Dr. Frederick Navarro as a graduate student in psychological research investigating the natural self-organization of health-related behaviors among adults in the United States. The image below is an example of one of the patterns:
In the image, levels closer to 1.0 indicate avoidance of the health context while numbers closer to 5.0 indicate stronger engagement in the context. For example, adults conforming to this pattern show strong avoidance of health care due to cost concern but not due to distrust of doctors. They also see family members as responsible for their own health, but attribute family health care decisions to themselves versus others.
The presence of such patterns underlying a wide range of behaviors has been supported by many empirical studies across diverse populations.
The presence of such patterns underlying a wide range of behaviors has been supported by many empirical studies across diverse populations.
While adults dominated by specific PATH can be treated as segments, the PATH are not really segments that adults belong to.
The PATH are stable configurations of adaptive behavioral response to different health-related contexts that adults conform to different degrees.
The PATH are stable configurations of adaptive behavioral response to different health-related contexts that adults conform to different degrees.
The majority of adults proportionally emulate one dominant PATH. For example, the image below shows a space occupied by four PATH. The purest representation of each of these PATH are found at the center of each fuzzy region. One person might conform to PATH 3 at 80% (Person 1 in the image below). PATH 3 is that person's dominant pattern. Another person might conform to PATH 2 at 50% and PATH 1 at 10% (Person 2 in the image below). This person's dominant PATH is still PATH 2, but PATH 1 does have a weak influence on that person's health-related behavior.
The PATH and health involvement
The nine PATH naturally fall into three major levels of health involvement: low, moderate, and high. However, the expression of this health involvement is different and impacts health outcomes differently.
ABSTAINERS FROM HEALTH - low health involvement
maintainers of health - moderate health involvement
enhancers of health - high health involvement
Not influenced by a PATH
