In this essay, I will critically compare and contrast community psychology and public health approaches to social problems. I will do this by comparing strengths and weaknesses of both approaches, as well as similarities between these approaches. To compare these two concepts, one should first have a basic understanding of the origins and historical development of community psychology and public health. According to the American Heritage Medical dictionary (www.ahdictionary.com) Community Psychology is “the application of psychology to community programs for the prevention of mental health disorders and the promotion of mental health.” Community psychology has its roots in the mental health reform movements in the USA, according to …show more content…
Public health concerns itself with the prevention of lifestyle diseases, such as heart problems, as well as diseases of which the occurrence can be reduced if the public is educated about it, such as HIV/AIDS and cholera (Tut 102 for PYC4811). Public health, as practised in South Africa and most industrialized countries, is based on the biomedical/western model of illness. According to this model, the reason for disease and distress (and, therefore, mental illness) is because of lesions within the body or mind. These lesions are caused by an interaction between a.) The characteristics of the individual (such as age, educational level, nutritional status, etc), b.) Disease-causing agents (such as germs, viruses, alcohol, etc) and c.) External environmental and social issues (such as poverty, war, pollution, etc). (Tutorial letter 102/0/2013for Pyc4811, 2013). According to Marc Zimmerman (http://www.answers.com), there are many similarities between the Community Health and Public Health fields, such as their methods, topics, theories and values. Both fields use methods such as advocacy, community organizing, policy influence, and dissemination (Zimmerman, http://www.answers.com). They also both apply theories and conceptual models, such as empowerment theory, social change theories and ecological theory. Community
COMMUNITY – there are numerous of problems to faced in a community. Like poverty, violence and crime, and low income and inability to ensure basic goods and services, and discrimination.
Public Health is the monitoring of the health of a population as a whole. This ranges from accidents such as car crashes to gun shot wounds
Community development is used to promote health education because the problems can be directly targeted and hit. Community development is used to target issues such as environment issues, housing, crime, pollution, support and isolation. By improving these issues you can improve the health issues that have become a consequence, Such as smoking, alcohol, drugs, stress, exercise and crime. See diagram
Public health as it is implicated in the lives of the community – it is important to conceptualise what this might mean. Moreover, public health has seen as a multidiscipline perspective in which it can be defined on many levels, and I find that it could be elusive to understand its meaning. By simple understanding of public health, I refer to an approach derived by Winslow (1920) and Baggott (2000).
In this criterion, the different psychological approaches to health practice and social care practice will be outlined and explained.
Community health is the process or characteristics that allow a community’s population and economy to survive. Community health is defined as the meeting of collective needs through identification of problems and
E) public health and safety: Public health is the science of preventing diseases, prolonging lives, researching diseases and improving the health of communities. Public health also deals with mental health, education, motor-vehicle safety, safer workplaces, healthier foods, drinking water, the use of tobacco, and healthy women and babies.
I view Community/Population Nursing “As an extension of public health that includes organized health care services to the community through public and private agencies in addition to government agencies” (Nies & McEwen, 2015, p.). Community/population nursing implements the Core Functions of Public Health (assessment, assurance, and policy development) by integrating their clinical knowledge and their understanding of the entire population and its health and illnesses and communicates that knowledge to health planners and policy makers. Nurses promote public health through nursing interventions, programs, and advocacy and focus on the prevention of illness, injury or disability, the promotion of health, and maintenance of the health of populations
Public health means so many things, in the past it was called “health for the poor”, “washing your hands”, and taking care of “vulnerable populations” (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2015 p. 4). In essence those are good definitions, but it is more than that definitions, public health is considered a
The Advances in public health have been possible due to the contributions of people with ideals of change who decided to make a difference in their communities through the creation of innovative ideas capable of changing the lifestyle of a community. Public health is about helping people to stay healthy, and protecting them from that psychosocial factor that may affect their life and that is why the public health worker must have a passion for a change and for a better quality of life for their community. In the beginnings of public health there were two people who acted as agents of social change and they were Sara Josephine Baker and Clara Barton.
‘Public health is everyone’s business’ illustrates Jones (2012, p.2). The Faculty of Public Health regard public health as a combination of health protection, health advancement and promoting health (Griffiths and Dark, 2006, cited in Jones, 2012, p.6).
This impacts not only their loved ones, but also the rest of the population. Spreading cancer awareness allows others to be informed about cancers they may have not known about and possibly prevent them from happening to them in the future. Another aspect of Public Health that is very touching is the fact that they deal with suicide prevention. This is a very complicated legal situation and deals with public policies. Furthermore, helping with drug addictions was another impacting topic of Public Health. Not only is it difficult to watch a drug addict suffer on a daily basis, but also watching their families struggle emotionally. Public Health helps educate drug addicts by helping them quit the drug they are using and provide epidemics. In turn, this will allow the drug addict to quit their addiction as well as help their family’s situation get back to normal again. In conclusion, I learned that Public Health is a field in which it helps people feel happy again, teaches about health care disease, and helps change the lives of others positively. That is why the Public Health field will be an important career in the
The mission of community and public health nursing is related back to the work of Florence Nightingale. Her observation that good environment leads to good health and bad environment leads to bad health.
Assess the role of the family, community, organizations and international community in in improving public health
Public health is a dynamic field of medicine that is concerned primarily with improving the health of populations rather than just the health of individuals. Winslow (1920) defined public health as;