Health Promotion Approaches

The ________________ approach simply aims to encourage people to adopt healthier behaviours in order to improve their health. The focus is on what people can actually do to be healthier rather than explaining in any great detail why changes should be made e.g. ‘Go Walking’ or ‘Eat 5 a day’. This approach encourages people make real improvements to health by changes to lifestyle.

• Social Change

• Behaviour Change

• Educational

Can you identify which health promotion approach this is a strength of?

• It delivers information that allows individuals to make informed decisions e.g. helps people to understand why they should be exercising regularly rather than just telling them to do it

• Social Change

• Fear

• Educational

• Behaviour Change

• Medical

Can you identify which approach this is a negative of?

• Individuals may feel that they are being manipulated by these shock tactics so may respond by saying they aren’t going to be persuaded by government propaganda

• Medical

• Social Change

• Behaviour Change

• Fear Arousal

• Educational

Can you identify which health promotion this is a negative of?

• It can be very difficult to know if learning has taken place or whether information is retained – people can listen to talks and take away leaflets but never think about the issue again or refer back to the information again

• Behaviour Change

• Social Change

• Educational

• Medical

• Fear

The (a)   attempts to gain the target audience’s attention by providing them with frightening images or statistics in an effort to get them to change their health behaviour. A good example is the anti-smoking campaign Every Cigarette is Doing You Damage that use images such as clogged arteries to frighten smokers into stopping

The medical approach is also sometimes referred to as the (a)   approach as it aims to prevent ill health. It focuses on preventative measures such as immunisation and screening and thus focuses on the role of health professionals in promoting health. A good example is ‘Catch the vaccine, not the ’flu’ (see the poster here) the Help Protect Yourself campaign to encourage uptake of the HPV vaccine

Can you idenify which health promotion approach this is a weakness of?

• This approach ignores the holistic person by focusing on the physical aspects of health rather than overall well-being, including psychological aspects like self esteem

• Educational

• Social Change

• Fear Arousal

• Behaviour Change

• Medical

The social change approach acknowledges the importance of socio-economic conditions e.g. social class and income as factors that influence health and therefore recognises the responsibility of government to take a lead in tackling health inequalities. It is a (a)   approach with policy makers and health planners taking the lead. Examples include the government’s smoking ban in some public spaces like pubs and restaurants and changes in the law in the age for buying cigarettes and on the way cigarettes are displayed in shops.

Can you identify which health promotion approach this is a negative of?

People may dislike being told what to do, therefore they don’t respond to messages like ‘Eat 5 a day’

• Educational

• Behaviour Change

• Medical

• Fear Arousal

• Social Change