Abstract: Dengue has kept itself in the top ten diseases by number of deaths in tropical areas. Community preventive actions are the key to disease management according to the Health Belief Model (HBM). The present research used a descriptive quantitative method to study how respondents in the community of Rural Zambales (Philippines) perceived the different dimensions of HBM, involving 500 participants selected through purposive sampling who were given a standardized health-belief questionnaire. The result showed that the respondents had a high perception of severity, low perception of susceptibility, very strong signals for action, moderate self-efficacy, low perceived barriers, and high perceived benefits. Although participants considered dengue to be a very big health problem and they supported the preventive measures that were backed by environmental and informational indicators strongly, they failed to see that they could be the carriers of the virus and their beliefs in their capacity for consistent preventive behaviors were weak. It can be inferred that preventive action tends to be more a response to outside prompts and perception of benefits than the self-efficacy and internal assessment of risks of getting sick. That is why it will be important to make people more aware of their vulnerability as the ones that can become vectors, in addition to improving their behavioral confidence so that it will be easier for the community to maintain the existing dengue prevention strategies. Community interventions should therefore concentrate on increasing the people's perception of susceptibility and self-efficacy through methods like experiential learning, participatory education, and the use of local health institutions that have health departments and educational centers on the same premises. Changing these belief aspects can lead the community to translate information and positive attitudes into behavior that continues for long and can thereby reduce dengue transmission in the community through time. Public health campaigns will also help further by combining school-based activities, community-based initiatives, and family demonstrations to raise one's awareness of personal risk and practical mosquito-control measures. For a person living in such an affected area with dengue and having a mosquito around to change their cue response from transient behavior to a habitual one, the person has to be consistently encouraged through external factors as well as the person has to be able to see themselves as at risk and being capable through their own belief or strength. The study also shows that it is the combined effort of one's risk assessment through understanding of the disease and the ability of a person to make that a habit through belief that is going to result in the prevention efforts being effective even in places where dengue is more prevalent. The intervention plans of those affected places should include not only the distribution of educational materials but also make communication part of the educational package as an ongoing process with the local community. That will make it possible to obtain a sustainable result.

Keyword : Community behavior, Dengue prevention, Health Belief Model.