Session 4.1 - health promotion

Question 1

What is the aim of health promotion?

Answer 1

-To enable people to increase control over and improve their health

Question 2

What are the 5 approaches to health promotion?

Answer 2

• Medical/prevantative measures
• Behavioural change
• Education
• Empowerment
• Social change

Question 3

What is primary prevention? Give an example

Answer 3

-Aims to prevent the onset of disease or injury by reducing exposure to risk factor
eg immunisation, reducing poor health behaviours eg smoking

Question 4

What is secondary pevention? Give an example

Answer 4

-Detects or treats a disease (or risk factor) at an early stage to prevent progression or disability
eg screening and monitoring

Question 5

What is tertiary prevention? Give an example

Answer 5

-Minimises the effects of established disease

eg rehab programmes

Question 6

State 6 dilemmas of health promotion

Answer 6

• Ethical
• Victim blaming
• Fallacy of empowerment
• Reinforcing negative stereotypes
• Unequal distribution of responsibility
• Prevention paradox

Question 7

What is the ethical dilemma of health promotion?

Answer 7

• Ethics of interfering in peoples lives
• Potential psychological impact of health promotion messages eg anxiety
• Nanny state -> overprotectibe or interfering with personal choice

Question 8

What is the victim blaming dilemma of health promotion?

Answer 8

• Constraints in which people live are not recognised
• Downplays the impact of wider socioeconomic and envronmental determinants of health eg housing conditions by focussing on individuals

Question 9

What is the fallacy of empowerment dilemma of health promotion?

Answer 9

• Giving people information does not give them power

- Unhealthy lifestyles not due to ignorance but incontrollable determinants of health

Question 10

What is the Reinforcing negative stereotypes dilemma of health promotion?

Answer 10

-Targets specific groups which can reinforce negative stereotypes eg leaflets for HIV prevention in drug users

Question 11

What is the unequal distribution of responsibility dilemma of health promotion?

Answer 11

-Implementing healthy behaviours in the family often left up to the woman eg change4life

Question 12

What is the prevention paradox dilemma of health promotion?

Answer 12

-Interventions which can effect at a population level may not effect an individual
Eg people may not see themselves as a candidate for disease and thus health message ignored

Question 13

Why is there an ethical obligation to evaluate health promotion?

Answer 13

-To ensure no harm is being done

Question 14

What 3 types of evaluation occur after health promotion?

Answer 14

• Process evaluation -> assess process of implementation
• Impact evaluation -> assess immediate effect
• Outcome evaluation -> measures long-term consequences

Question 15

Why can the timing of health promotion evaluation effect the outcome?

Answer 15

• Delay -> effect may take a long time to become apparent

- Decay -> effects of a promotion may wear off quickly

Question 16

Why can health promotion be difficult to evaluate?

Answer 16

• Lagtime of outcome
• Confounding factors of outcome -> if person is undertaking this health behaviour then more likely doing others too
• Intervention designs can be difficult to evaluate
• Costly