The Concept of Health Promotion - Coursework Example

Health Promotion College: Health Promotion Introduction The concept of health promotion has become an important issue in the health environment. Health promotion refers to the process through which people increase their control over their health and its determinants as a mean to achieve a healthy living. From a personal experience, the reason for increase in poor health in many countries is lack of proper health management. While theory provides medical and proactive approach of health promotion, it is clear that many diseases are preventable and health activism would be the best approach to prevent illnesses unlike treatment. An increase in lifestyle-related illnesses such as cancer, hypertension, and obesity among others today is a result of low health awareness within the public. Since treating such diseases has been a complex and an expensive approach for health institutions, it is crucial that we should focus on how to prevent them rather than strive to treat them. From a personal point of view, I consider a proactive approach more efficient in creating public awareness about health control within the public. Therefore, as a student of health promotion, I would practice health activism by engaging in knowledge creation campaigns to ensure that the public take the lead in the fight against diseases. While proactive health promotion is a complex idea, it is the best approach to ensure a healthy public and to create a diseases free society. Reflection on My Professional Journey My professional journey as a student of health promotion has been informative and experiential. Through my years of learning I have acquired diverse knowledge and experience on health promotion strategies, procedures, and practices. One of the key learning in my course is the demand for effective healthcare procedures within the public. The health of the community is at stake and there is demand for effective healthcare control to ensure that the society remains healthy (Stroebe, 2011). Of important to note is the gradual increase in complex health issues that are posing a challenge in both prevention and treatment. The governments in many countries are spending billions of shillings in treatment of diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, and other life-style related conditions. Besides, the level of such illnesses is increasing becoming a big threat to the community. The result is an increase in mortality rate in the world and severe economic impacts of such illnesses. Apparently, controlling health illnesses is a matter of urgency if the health of the community is to be sustained in the long-term. In my attachment, I have worked in a number of health environments where I have learnt the need for a preventive approach in healthcare promotion. As Farmer (2004) notes, the healthcare environment is in a crisis due to the increase in society demand for health care provision. While working in the health care unit, I learnt that the society needs are constantly rising and this is becoming a big challenge for health institutions to handle. Farmer (2004) notes the large crowds of public that they have to handle each day and the complex cases that emerge every day. I had a similar experience in healthcare institution when each day the health staff had to come along a new health problem that they had not encountered previously. Typically, this is the experience of every health professional in their working place. While I have worked closely with the doctors in handling such problems, I feel that if there was a way to prevent such problems it would be the most fortunate thing for the society. My best experience has been to participate in health activism where we can educate the public on hygiene, proper diet and healthy living. From my experience, I find it more important to prevent diseases rather than engage in research to find cure for illnesses that growing each day. In my classroom experience, I have learnt the value of health promotion within the society and the important role it plays in creating a disease free society. Research shows that there has been a great rise in lifestyle related diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, gout and heart diseases (Shepard, 2010). These diseases have become major killers in the world and are very expensive to treat. The government ever increasing budget allocation in health has not made any progress in reducing the health problems in most countries. In countries such as the United Kingdom there exists free medical care for its citizens as one way of showing its community towards creation of zero-disease environment (Kumar & Kumar, 2003). Despite use of many resources used for treatment of patients, it is clear that the health demands are increasing each day as the population grows and there is little chance for the establishment of a healthy society. From my lessons, I understand that health promotion provides an alternative approach to disease prevention, which focuses on health-awareness creation to ensure that the public can engage in activities that reduce their vulnerability to diseases. Health Promotion Approaches Theories of health sustenance provide a number of approaches to health promotion with the health environment. One important approach is the medical health promotion approach that deals with provision of medical care for the affected community. In this approach, the healthcare institutions are concerned with research on the best treatment procedures for common conditions within the society. This approach seeks to ensure that cure is available for every conditions and that those who suffer from any diseases can receive effective treatment (Russell & Jarvis, 2003). Currently, government is various countries such a UK have invested heavily on medical research in serious health problems such as Cancer. The government is also struggling to increase its budget to ensure that all health institutions are equipped with sophisticated equipment that can facilitate treatment of serious diseases. While this approach depicts the government’s commitment to ensure that the public is healthy, it suffers a lot of criticism due to the rapid increase in more complex ailments that limits medical health Promotion procedures. Next, the behavioural health promotion approach has attracted a lot attention in the recent past. Behavioural health promotion strategy seeks to transform the public behaviour to ensure that they engage in health-aware behaviours. In this approach, health practitioners provide a direct connection between an increase in health diseases and poor lifestyles within the public. They argue that diseases such as lifestyle-connected diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and obesity result from poor eating habits, lack of physical exercise, increase in stress within the public. Therefore, this approach seeks to induce health-aware habits such as creating diet awareness, hygiene and eliminating tobacco smoking. While there is evidence that a behavioural approach would be effective in reducing serious illnesses, it is clear that it blames illnesses on the patients and ignores the complexity of transforming social behaviour. Jupp (2007) notes that transforming social behaviour is difficult and hence cannot be used as a lone procedure for health promotion within the public. Lastly, a proactive approach in health promotion was discussed comprehensively in the curriculum. A proactive approach is concerned with the anticipation of health issues and engaging in prevention strategies (Talbot & Verrinder, 2010). In this approach, the medical experts have to foresee health issues that are likely to arise and engage in procedures that will prevent such occurrences within the public. For instance, screening of every member of public for cancer would be crucial in prevention of cases of terminal cancer within the public. While this approach has received a lot of support since it prevent occurrence of serious issues, it suffer weakness due to the complexity of detecting some diseases such as high blood pressure before they occur. Besides, it is an expensive approach due its comprehensive aspect and may lead to unnecessary expenses. My Perspective on Health Promotion My perspective on health promotions has been shaped by my personal experience and the knowledge that I have gained within the learning environment. From a personal point of view, medical health promotion strategy is the most effective approach to development of a healthy society. Russel and Jarvis (2003) argue that the reason why the government has failed to succeed in control of diseases is the use of post-active approach. The government has paid attention to purchase of treatment equipment and medicine, ignoring the need to motivate the society to adopt good healthy behaviour (O’Connor 2000). While health research is essential in ensuring that there is treatment for complex inevitable health illnesses, it is ineffective since it ignores the expensive nature of treatment provision. Since these problems are increasing each day, focussing on treatment does not prevent the public from suffering. Moreover, it is expensive to treat health conditions that are easy to treat. For instance, behaviour related diseases such as cancer can be prevented easily and only few exceptional cases should be treated. On the other hand, a proactive approach is important in creating sustainable health within the public. For instance, screening for breast cancer within females has resulted to the reduction of cases of severe cancer by 30%. This procedure ensures that early symptoms of cancer are successfully treated hence preventing terminal cases. References Buchanan et al (1994). Social Marketing: A Critical Appraisal. Health Promotion International, 9(1) 49-57. Cahill (2007). Afterword: Well positioned? Locating participation in theory and practice. Environment and Planning, 39: 2861-2865. Farmer (2004). Anthropology of Structural Violence. Current Anthropology, 45(3) 305-325 Hunt, R., (2009). Introduction to community-based nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Jupp (2007). Participation, local knowledge and empowerment: researching public space with young people. Environment and Planning, 39(12) 2832-2844. Kumar, R., & Kumar, M., (2003). Guide to prevention of lifestyle diseases: Live a healthy lifestyle to fight diseases. New Delhi: Deep & Deep Publications. Laverack, G. (2013). Health activism: Foundations and strategies. London: Sage Publications O’Connor B, J, et al., (2000). Marketing the Heart Health Vision: Delivering the “Preventive Dose.” Ottawa, Canada: WHO Collaborating Centre for Policy Development in the Prevention of Noncommunicable Disease. Russell, J., & Jarvis, M. (2003). Angles on applied psychology. Cheltenham, UK: Nelson Thornes. Shepard, D. S., (2010) Lifestyle modification to control heart disease: Evidence and policy. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Stroebe, W., (2011). Social psychology and health. Maidenhead: Open University Press Talbot, L., & Verrinder, G. (2010). Promoting health: The primary health care approach. Chatswood, N.S.W: Elsevier. Read More