Health Education, Health Promotion, and Theory

Flashcards for reviewing key concepts in health education, health promotion, and theory based on lecture notes.

Health (WHO, 1945)

A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity.

Contemporary Definition of Health

A means to achieve desirable goals in life while maintaining a multidimensional (physical, mental, social, political, economic, and spiritual) equilibrium that is operationalized for individuals as well as for communities.

Concept of Behavior

Any overt human action, conscious or unconscious, with measurable frequency, intensity, and duration, influenced by intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, community, and public policy factors.

Health Behavior

Personal attributes such as beliefs, expectations, motives, values, perceptions, and other cognitive elements; personality characteristics, including affective and emotional states and traits, and behavioral patterns, actions, and habits that relate to health maintenance, restoration, and improvement.

Health-Directed Behaviors

Behaviors that a person consciously pursues for health improvement or health protection.

Health-Related Behaviors

Actions performed for reasons other than health but have health effects.

Primary Prevention

Preventive actions taken prior to the onset of disease or injury to remove the possibility of their ever occurring.

Secondary Prevention

Actions that block the progression of an injury or disease at its incipient stage.

Tertiary Prevention

Actions taken after the onset of disease or injury to assist diseased or disabled people.

Health Education (2000 Joint Committee)

Any combination of planned learning experiences based on sound theories that provide individuals, groups, and communities the opportunity to acquire information and the skills needed to make quality health decisions.

Health Promotion (Green & Kreuter, 2005)

Any planned combination of educational, political, regulatory, and organizational supports for actions and conditions of living conducive to the health of individuals, groups, or communities.

Assessment (Public Health)

Regular and systematic collection, assembly, analysis, and dissemination of health information.

Policy Development (Public Health)

Development of comprehensive public health policies.

Assurance (Public Health)

Ensuring that services necessary to achieve agreed-upon goals in communities are provided either directly or by regulations or by other agencies.

Awareness

Becoming conscious of an action, object, person, or situation.

Information

Gathering facts related to an action, object, person, or situation.

Knowledge

Learning facts and gaining insights related to an action, object, person, or situation.

Skills

Learning how to perform an action or change a situation.

Health Literacy

The capacity of an individual to obtain, interpret, and understand basic health information and services and the competence to use such information and services in ways that are health enhancing.

Beliefs

Statements of perceived fact—impressions about the world.

Attitudes

Relatively constant feelings, predispositions, or set of beliefs directed toward an object, person, or situation—beliefs with an evaluative component.

Values

Enduring beliefs or systems of beliefs that a specific mode of conduct or end state of behavior is personally or socially preferable.

Theory (Kerlinger & Lee, 2000)

A set of interrelated concepts, definitions, and predispositions that present a systematic view of events or situations by specifying relations among variables in order to explain and predict the events or situations.

Benefits of Applying Theory

Helps in discerning measurable program outcomes, specifies methods for behavior change, identifies the timing for interventions, helps in choosing the right mix of strategies, enhances communication between professionals, improves replication, and improves program efficiency & effectiveness.

Ideal Theory

Demonstrates predictive power, provides practical guidance, testability, ability to generalize, and identifies the determinants (basis).

Commonly Used Theories in HBR

Health belief model, social cognitive theory, construct of self-efficacy, theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behavior, stages of change/transtheoretical model, social marketing model, diffusion of innovations and Freirian model.

SMART Objectives

Specific, Measurable, Action verb, Realistic, and Time frame