PRINCIPLES & VALUES IN HEALTH

Principles and Values in Health

[Name of Student]

Principles and Values in Health

Introduction

The concept of health promotion initially emerged and continues to gain strength as an approach to improving health status and health condition of people. Health promotion is a key component of the complex relationship between actions, knowledge, attitudes, behaviour, and health outcomes from the individual to the societal level. Health promotion is increasingly applicable and relevant to practice within health care and health research specialty around the world. This paper aims at exploring the fundamental concepts of health, health promotion, and multiple health models that define the effectiveness of approach taken towards the health promotion. It also discusses about the ethical perspective of health promotion.

Definition of Health

It is necessary to determine which factors constitute the components of health. Many researchers have identified fundamental concepts which lead to universal definition development to define the concept of health. Contemporary approach towards defining health is more holistic compare to conventional definition of health which defines it as a phenomenon of presence or absence of disease. According to World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This definition shows a confined perspective about health and its constituent elements. It defines the health based on variety of factors that directly affect the individual's psychological, physical, social, and emotional condition.

Definition of Health Promotion

The concept of health promotion is based on the interpretation of social and cultural health, and disease. The health promotion is the process of enabling people to gain greater control over their health. It is a dynamic and evolving concept referring to the management of health of people in the context of their daily lives. Health promotion concept promotes the attainment of the highest level of physical, mental, and social development. Mark defined health promotion as a process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It includes the education, prevention, where people act in coordination to policies, systems, and lifestyles, through advocacy, empowerment, and building a social support system that enable them to live a longer healthy life. Under these definitions, health promotion is a mechanism of enabling people to have greater power for making choices for well-being improvement. Determinants of the health promotion have been identified in the first definition, whereas second definition emphasize on the components of health promotion that enhances the capability of individuals towards health improvement. This definition places emphasis on social and environmental intervention instead of individual behaviour.

Approaches to Health Promotion There are five approaches that are commonly used for enhancing health promotion. These approaches include:

1. Medical approach

2. Behaviour change approach

3. Educational approach

4. Empowerment approach

5. Social change approach

The Medical Approach

Medical approach focuses on freeing the people from diseases. In this approach, patient is dependent on medical professional or experts for the treatment. Major emphasis, in this concern, is placed on patient's ability to effectively ...