S5) Health Promotion Flashcards
What are determinants of health?
Determinants of health are a range of factors that have a powerful and cumulative effect on the health of populations, communities and individuals
Identify some determinants of health
- The physical environment,
- The social and economic environment,
- Our individual genetics, characteristics and behaviours
Why are determinants of health important?
- The context of people’s lives determine their health so blaming/rewarding people for their health is inappropriate
- Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the determinants of health
What is health promotion?
Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health
There are certain principles of health promotion. Describe the following:
- Empowering
- Participatory
- Holistic
- Intersectoral
- Empowering: enabling individuals and communities to assume more power over the determinants of health
- Participatory: involving all concerned at all stages of the process
- Holistic: fostering physical, mental, social and spiritual health
- Intersectoral: involving the collaboration of agencies from relevant sectors
There are certain principles of health promotion. Describe the following:
- Equitable
- Sustainable
- Multi-strategy
- Equitable: guided by a concern for equity and social justice
- Sustainable: bringing about changes that individuals and communities can maintain once funding has ended
- Multi-strategy: uses a variety of approaches e.g. policy and community development & organisational change
Distinguish between health promotion and public health
- Public Health tends to emphasise the ends
- Health Promotion places more value on means to achieve the ends
What are the 5 approaches enforced in health promotion?
- Medical / preventive
- Behaviour change
- Educational
- Empowerment
- Social change
What are the aims and approaches of Primary Prevention?
- Aim: to prevent the onset of disease or injury – by reducing exposure to risk factors
- Approaches: immunisation, reducing risk factors from health-related behaviours, etc
What is the aim of Secondary Prevention?
Provide some examples
Aim: to detect and treat a disease (or its risk factors) at an early stage to prevent progression / potential future complications and disabilities from the disease
E.g. screening for cervical cancer, monitoring and treating blood pressure
What is the aim of Tertiary Prevention?
Provide some examples
Aim: to minimise the effects of established disease
E.g. steroids for asthma, renal transplants, maximise the remaining capabilities and functions of an already disabled patient
One of the dilemmas raised by health promotion involve the ‘ethics of interfering in people’s lives’.
Explain this
- Potential psychological impact of health promotion messages
- State interventions in individuals’ lives
One of the dilemmas raised by health promotion involve the ‘victim blaming’.
Explain this
Focusing on individual behavioural change plays down the impact of wider socioeconomic & environmental determinants of health
E.g. high costs of ‘healthy living’, housing conditions, water and air quality, etc
One of the dilemmas raised by health promotion involve the ‘fallacy of empowerment’.
Explain this
- Giving people information doesn’t give them the power
- ‘Unhealthy’ lifestyles aren’t due to ignorance but due to adverse circumstances and wider socio-economic determinants of health
One of the dilemmas raised by health promotion involve the ‘reinforcing of negative stereotypes’.
Explain this
Health promotion messages have the potential to reinforce negative stereotypes associated with a condition or group
E.g. Leaflets aimed at HIV prevention in drug users can reinforce that drug users should only blame themselves
One of the dilemmas raised by health promotion involve the ‘Unequal distribution of responsibility’.
Explain this
Implementing healthy behaviours in the family is often left up to women
E.g Healthy eating advice and the responsibility – eat more fresh fruit, less processed food, etc.
Explain the relevance of lay beliefs to health promotion interventions
- If people don’t see themselves as a ‘candidate’ for a disease they won’t co-operate with health promotion
- Awareness of anomalies and randomness of a disease (e.g. heart attacks) also impacts views about candidacy
What is evaluation?
Evaluation is the rigorous & systematic collection of data to assess the effectiveness of a programme in achieving predetermined objectives
Why should one evaluate?
- Need for evidence-based interventions
- Accountability
- Ethical obligation
- Programme management and development
What is process evaluation?
Process evaluation focuses on assessing the process of programme implementation (uses qualitative methods)
What is impact evaluation?
Impact evaluation assesses the immediate effects of intervention
What is outcome evaluation?
Outcome evaluation measures more long-term consequences
Illustrate how the timing of evaluation can influence the ‘outcome’
- Delay: some interventions might take a long time to have an effect
- Decay: some interventions wear off rapidly
Why could it be difficult to demonstrate an attributable effect?
- Design of the intervention
- Possible lag time to effect
- Potential confounding factors
- High cost of evaluation research
