Benefits of health promotion

The concept of health promotion has emerged with the increasing realisation in society that our health is one of our most valuable personal assets, as well as an asset for society (Crafter, 1997). The Health Promotion Agency (2008) describes health promotion as a process enabling people to

Current attitudes towards health promotion in young people are significantly understood by the importance of the determinates of health such as income, level of education, cultural beliefs, geographic location and employment. For an effective long term outcome on health promotion it involves several approaches to bring about this change. This includes lifestyle and behavioural approaches, public health approaches and preventative medical approaches.

According to the World Health Organization health promotion is defined as "The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions." (WHO, 2013) This applies to the nursing profession in that nurses are educating patient on the steps needed for their health such as diet, exercise, therapies, and medication compliance.

The roots of the tree suggest the requirement of understanding the conditions that conclude health and ill health; biological inheritance, physical environment, cultural, social, political and economic circumstances. The understanding of who, when and where is affected enables possible interventions to be identified. The trunk of the tree illustrates the importance of organisational commitment to improving health. Lastly, the branches describe key areas for health promotion activity and those elements of the setting that contribute to health. Health promotion works by the belief system. The belief system is when an individual is experiencing change in their health. The belief system is made up of many positive factors such as; health, aesthetic gain, benefits to family, pariah status and financial gain. This belief system can be used in many health issues such as overcoming obesity. There are many positives for overcoming obesity which are; reducing the chance of getting illnesses/diseases, heart disease, infertility, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and strokes. The aesthetic gain It would be that people would lose weight more and then would look/be thinner. Benefits to family The benefits to the family would be that by them being healthier the rest of the family may be influenced to start being healthy to avoid the risk of developing any illness/disease.

The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986, defined Health Promotion as being ‘the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health’. There are three key approaches to HP. The first one looks at population subgroups. It is well documented that not all cultures view health as a prime goal. For example, an addict will chose to facilitate his habit over basic sanitary and physical necessities. The ‘population subgroup’ approach looks to focus on targeted solutions for smaller groups

The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health promotion as “The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behavior towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions.”

patient that has CHD, (Coronary Heart Disease) and explore the psychological approach to altering the patients perceptions of health promotion, and interventions that are used to facilitate a better quality of health. The author will also examine public health legislation on current health and social care provisions, and evaluate the role of models of health within diverse promotions in practice.

For many years, health promotions and prevention has been the focus for healthcare providers, especially nurses. Health promotion seeks to improve a person or population’s health by teaching about and helps people become more aware of risky behaviors associated with different diseases. It encourages individuals to take preventative measures to prevent onset or worsening of a disease or illness. It encourages a healthier lifestyle (Edelman & Mandle, 2010). The strategy is to help people make health improvements or prevention before illness occurs.

There are various methods used in the implementation of health promotion that encompasses entire areas of nursing. Providing education, providing information and increasing the knowledge to the patient and the community. In this nursing process a complete assessment, planning, nursing diagnosis; creating plan of care, rendering care and outcome evaluation is done. This nursing process is used during the entire nursing practice in very particular stages and in the progression of the quality care.

“Health is defined as a state of physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO). Like wise health promotion is the process of increasing the functional capacity of all people hence promote the sense of well-being. In order to accomplish this goal all health care professionals have to work hard by submitting themselves to their patients and community as a whole. Thus globalize health promotion should be the ultimate mission for all health care team, especially for nurses. Nurses are the first level health care team therefore nurses should play as a role model to all human beings. They should hold various positions in order to achieve optimum results. In this evolving health industry

2. Pender NJ, Murdaugh CL, Carolyn L. Health promotion in nursing practice. 4th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall (NJ): Upper Saddle River; 2002.

The three health promotion approaches individual, community or organisational and public policy and practice can all be applied in a health promotion setting.

While Health education and Health promotion have similar aims and objectives, they are both very different concepts. Health education is a tool used to help people develop skills and behaviors that will help them to be able to live healthier lifestyles. Health education helps to increase life expectancy by giving people knowledge on how to prevent certain illnesses and diseases and also helps to reinforce positive attitudes and behaviors towards health. Health promotion is a method use to spread awareness of the importance of health. Usually in the form of advertisements, health promotion aims to get people to try and get control over their health in order to improve it. Health promotion uses different mechanisms in order to promote and support

The World Health Organisation - WHO (2015) defines Health Promotion as fundamental discipline in disease prevention through social /environmental intervention, health education and behaviour change towards health. This description coincides with Dahlgren and Whitehead’s Social Determinants of Health (1992) where the individual’s health is not only limited to medical factors but it is largely influenced by lifestyle – rooting from its social factors from familial, societal to national level. In this regard, the vital role of the nurse as a health promotion practitioner is to uphold individual’s autonomy by increasing their knowledge about how the body functions to prevent diseases and making them aware of how the healthcare

Health promotion aims a wide range of targets at different levels in the community. The huge benefits resulted from health promotion and disease prevention efforts make many realize that this domain of health care is worth to be invested in. The focus is shifted evermore from the medical to the preventative approach, from treating the disease to avoiding the onset of it.