From Belief to Behavior: An IP’s Step-by-step Approach to Changing Belief Systems
Soaking wet from my long walk in the icy cold rain, I entered Grandma’s house in the early spring of my 11th year.
“Goodness, child,” she exclaimed. “Now, just look at yourself. You’re gonna catch a cold lookin’ that way. You come over here right this instant and get yourself dried off somethin’ quick.”
I obliged, as I did every time my grandmother insisted that I would catch a cold if I didn’t do exactly as I was told. Over the years, my grandmother would provide me with multiple explanations for why I would be struck down by “those pesky germs.” And when I inevitably fell ill from the onslaught of typical seasonal respiratory viruses, it would be because I didn’t listen to Grandma and keep out of the rain. And so she’d park me directly in the sunlight because, she told me, “a good dose of the sun will take care of those pesky germs.”
By Heather Stoltzfus, MPH, RN, CIC
Infection Control Today, June 2023, (Vol. 27 No. 5)
