Subject: Health Promotion (UNIKL
MESTECH – HDB31303 Community
Health & Epidemiology)
Headings/Sections: Planning and Promoting Health Education, Health Promotion, Health
Teaching, Use of Media
Introduction
• Essential tools for public/community health professionals:
o Epidemiology
o Community organizing/building
o Health promotion programming
• Community Organizing:
o Behavior change is essential in health promotion
o Evidence-based practice: systematic decision-making using the best available
data
o Socio-ecological approach: multiple levels of influence shape individual
behavior; social context matters
Recap: Intervention and Prevention
• Interventions: Intentional actions targeting persons/populations with a health problem
• Disease Prevention: Activities to protect from health threats and reduce disease
impact
Community Organizing
• Definition: Helping groups identify problems, mobilize resources, and implement
strategies for collective goals
• Simple vs Complex Problems:
o Simple: few people, minimal organization
o Complex: whole communities, need more resources/skills
• Need for Organizing:
o Driven by societal changes (technology, mobility, isolation, etc.)
Assumptions of Community Organizing
1. Communities can address their problems
2. People want and can change
3. People should participate in change
4. Self-imposed changes are more lasting
5. Holistic approaches work better than fragmented ones
6. Democracy requires community participation and learned skills
7. Communities often need help in organizing
Community Organizing Methods
• Rothman’s Typology:
o Locality development
o Social planning
o Social action
• Updated Strategies:
o Planning and policy practice: data-driven persuasion for solutions
o Community capacity development: empower affected individuals
o Social advocacy: confront those causing or blocking solutions
Generic Approach to Community Organizing
1. Recognize the issue: From inside (grassroots) or outside (top-down)
2. Gain entry: Through gatekeepers (e.g., politicians, educators); requires cultural
competence
3. Organize people:
o Support from executive participants
o Include directly affected subpopulations
o Use networking, form task forces, and recruit volunteers
4. Assess the community:
o Community organizing: focus on needs
o Community building: focus on assets
o Use tools like surveys, interviews, photovoice
o Community capacity mapping
5. Set priorities and goals:
o Ensure problem is winnable, simple, unifying, impactful, and strategic
6. Arrive at solutions and select intervention strategies
7. Final steps:
o Implement, evaluate, maintain, and loop back if needed
Health Promotion Programming
• Health Education: Evidence-based planned learning for health knowledge, attitudes,
and skills
• Health Promotion: Planned actions (educational, political, regulatory, environmental)
to support healthy living conditions
Planning and Promoting Health Education
• Health prerequisites: peace, shelter, education, food, income, ecosystem, social
justice, equity
• Aims: Increase control over health determinants and improve health
• Health Promotion Actions:
o Build healthy public policy
o Create supportive environments
o Strengthen community action
o Develop personal skills
o Reorient health services
Approaches in Health Promotion
1. Medical/Preventive Approach
• Aim: Prevent or reduce disease via medical means
• Strategies: Medical screening, interventions, managed behavior change
• Target: High-risk individuals
• Actors: Physicians, nurses, allied health workers
2. Behaviour Change Approach
• Aim: Encourage individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles
• Strategies: Health education, social marketing, lifestyle-supporting policies
• Target: High-risk groups, especially children/youth
• Actors: Public health workers, advocacy groups, government
3. Educational Approach
• Aim: Provide health knowledge for informed personal decisions
• Strategies: Deliver health info, explore values, support adoption of healthy practices
• Actors: Health educators respecting individual autonomy
4. Client-Centered (Empowerment) Approach
• Aim: Help individuals take control over their health decisions
• Strategies: Facilitation by health promoters, skill and knowledge building
• Principle: Clients are equal contributors with autonomy
5. Societal Change Approach
• Aim: Modify physical, social, and economic environments to promote health
• Strategies: Political action, community organizing, advocacy, policy reform
• Target: Societal-level health risks (e.g., poverty, pollution)
• Actors: Citizens, welfare organizations, political movements
Selecting the Best Methods
• Consider:
o Alignment with aims/objectives
o Consumer acceptance
o Simplicity and ease
o Cost-effectiveness
o Acceptability to stakeholders
o Comfort level of the implementers
