<span>Human behavior plays a central role in the maintenance of health, and the prevention of disease. With an eye to lowering the substantial morbidity and mortality associated with health-related behavior, health professionals have turned to models of behavior change to guide the development of strategies that foster self-protective action, reduce behaviors that increase health risk, and facilitate effective adaptation to and coping with illness. Several decades of concerted effort to promote health and decrease risk through individual behavior change have produced successes, failures, and lessons learned.</span>
