The Perception of Risk and Risk Taking Behavior: Implications for Incident Prevention Strategies

Core to incident prevention strategies is the need to identify factors that influence the decision-making process linked to risk-taking behavior. Participants’ perception of risk and associated norms and practices may play a key role in relation to decisions to engage with a risk and subsequent risk-management strategies. A range of factors that influence the perception of risk and risk-taking behavior are discussed. It is proposed that prevention strategies need to be sensitive to the context of participation, the attitudes and beliefs of participants, and the motives for participation. To ignore such issues may result in the development of inappropriate approaches to the management of risk that may be discredited, resisted, or negate reasons for participation.