Health Promotion and Health Education

Flashcards covering key concepts in Health Promotion and Health Education, including definitions, frameworks like the Ottawa Charter, challenges, and the role of health services and clinicians, based on the provided lecture notes.

Health Education

Communication aimed at influencing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours to maintain or improve health.

Health Promotion

Activities by governments, health services, and other agencies to enable individuals and communities to gain control over and improve their health, broader than health education as it includes environmental, policy, and social actions.

Role of Health Services in Health Promotion

Advocate for healthy public policy, create supportive environments, lead health education campaigns, and drive system-level changes (e.g., tobacco-free hospitals), though resources are often limited.

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986)

A WHO framework outlining 5 key action areas to guide health promotion action.

1st Action Area

Build Healthy Public Policy (Tobacco Control)

• Implementing smoke-free legislation, increasing taxes on tobacco, and plain packaging laws.

2nd Action Area

Create Supportive Environments (Tobacco Control)

• Designating smoke-free playgrounds, public spaces, and hospitals.

3rd Action Area

Strengthen Community Action (Tobacco Control)

• Involving advocacy groups like the Bahrain Cancer Society in community efforts.

4th Action Area

Develop Personal Skills (Tobacco Control)

• Providing school education programs, social media campaigns, and cessation workshops.

5th Action Area

Reorient Health Services (Tobacco Control)

• Integrating cessation clinics, training clinicians, and establishing referral systems for tobacco cessation.

Challenges in Tobacco Control within Health Services

Limited time and funding, competing responsibilities with patient care, opposition from industries (e.g., lobbying by tobacco companies), and government reliance on tobacco taxes.

Other examples of the application of the Ottawa Charter (have a look)

Action Area Road Safety Example

1. Policy - Speed limit laws, drink-driving enforcement

2. Environment - Footpaths, bike lanes, traffic calming

3. Community Action - NGOs lobbying for safer school zones

4. Personal Skills - Driver education, mass media awareness

5. Health Services - Trauma systems, emergency services

Q: What other topics could this framework (Ottawa Charter) apply to?

A:

Obesity, Diabetes prevention, Sexual health, Mental health, Alcohol-related harm

Population Health Framework

A strategic approach to improve health outcomes at a community or national level, integrating policy, systems, and evidence-based practice.

Components of a Population Health Framework

Sustainability, equity, health policy & systems, promotion, prevention & protection, social determinants of health, epidemiology and evidence, and SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

What are Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)?

Non-medical factors that influence health outcomes like income, education, housing, gender, culture, social networks, and environment, often contributing more to ill-health than individual behaviours alone.

How does Health Promotion address SDOH?

Shifts focus from individual behaviour to changing systems and environments to make healthy choices easier.

Behavior Change

The process where health professionals support patients in making small, sustainable shifts, recognizing that external factors (media, infrastructure, pricing) strongly shape health behaviours.

Lobbying and Opposition (Public Health)

Resistance from industry groups (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, sugar) to public health policies, requiring advocates to navigate politics, trade interests, and media influence.

Clinician as Advocate

The role of doctors in pushing for systemic health changes (e.g., a tobacco-free hospital campus) while balancing their primary clinical care responsibilities.