Introduction to Health Promotion

Summary

This module introduces health promotion, emphasizing its role in enabling individuals to improve their health through increased control. It distinguishes health promotion from public and population health, highlighting the importance of upstream interventions to prevent negative behaviors and foster positive ones. The instructor encourages students to consider their area of intervention and the challenges of making significant societal changes, using examples like civil rights and indigenous rights movements to illustrate the long-term commitment and effort required.

Takeaways

• 📚 Health promotion is an introduction to understanding how to help individuals and communities improve their health and well-being.
• 🧘‍♂️ The focus is on enabling people to take control of their health rather than forcing them to be healthy.
• 🌟 Health promotion is not solely the responsibility of the health sector; it involves various areas such as politics, urban planning, and education.
• 💡 The goal of health promotion is to improve overall health and well-being, not just to reduce disease rates.
• 🌿 Health is defined as a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being.
• 🔍 Health promoters consider interventions at various levels, including individual, community, and national.
• 🛣️ The concept of upstream and downstream interventions is important in health promotion, aiming to prevent negative behaviors or start positive ones.
• 🌐 Health promotion tactics are often used in public health and population health, although they may have different focuses.
• 🚫 Health promotion can be frustrating due to the time and effort required to see significant changes, especially at higher levels like policy-making.
• 🌈 Social causes like civil rights and indigenous rights are intertwined with health promotion as they affect individuals' ability to control their health.
• 📜 The Ottawa Charter is a foundational document in health promotion that will be discussed in more detail in the course.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the health promotion module?

The main focus of the health promotion module is to explore how to enable people to increase control over and improve their health, rather than just understanding the body's structure and functions.

How does the module differentiate health promotion from simply understanding what is good or bad for the body?

The module differentiates health promotion by emphasizing the process of enabling people to make better health decisions and take control of their own health, rather than just knowing what is good or bad for the body.

What is the role of a health promoter according to the script?

A health promoter's role is to help people make healthier choices by themselves or within their community, and to facilitate improvements at the national level, without forcing them to be healthy.

Why is it important for health promoters to consider their area of intervention?

It is important for health promoters to consider their area of intervention because it affects how they will approach health promotion, whether it be through one-on-one interactions, public policy, or community-level initiatives.

What does the term 'health' encompass according to the script?

According to the script, the term 'health' encompasses the complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being.

Why is health promotion not solely focused on reducing disease rates?

Health promotion is not solely focused on reducing disease rates because its main goal is to improve well-being in the present, not just to prevent diseases or conditions from occurring.

What is the difference between upstream and downstream health promotion interventions?

Upstream interventions are those that prevent negative behaviors from starting or promote positive behaviors from the beginning, while downstream interventions address behaviors that are already established, such as helping people quit smoking or lessening the harm of smoking.

How does the script describe the relationship between health promotion and the broader societal roles?

The script describes health promotion as not just the responsibility of the health sector, but also involving roles in politics, urban planning, education, and other areas that can influence health.

What are the challenges of health promotion mentioned in the script?

The challenges of health promotion mentioned in the script include the time it takes to see results, the need to fight for changes, and the requirement of political investment and support.

How does the script relate health promotion to social causes like civil rights and indigenous rights?

The script relates health promotion to social causes by explaining that by helping people gain equal rights and fair treatment, health promoters are also helping them increase their ability to take control of their own health.

What foundational document is mentioned in the script that is important to the concept of health promotion?

The foundational document mentioned in the script is the Ottawa Charter, which is important to the concept of health promotion.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Health Promotion

This paragraph introduces the concept of health promotion, emphasizing its importance in the curriculum for students pursuing a degree in physical education. It highlights the need to understand not just the structure and function of the body, but also how to influence behaviors positively to improve health. The role of a health promoter is to enable individuals, families, and communities to make healthier choices and to consider the impact of their work at various levels, from individual to national. The paragraph also touches on the idea that health promotion is not solely the responsibility of the health sector but involves various societal aspects, including politics, urban planning, and education.

05:01

🚀 The Process and Challenges of Health Promotion

The second paragraph delves into the process of health promotion as an enabling activity that empowers people to take control of their health. It distinguishes between upstream and downstream interventions, using smoking as an example to illustrate the difference. Upstream interventions aim to prevent negative behaviors from starting, such as making cigarettes expensive or restricting smoking areas, while downstream interventions address behaviors that are already established, like helping smokers quit. The paragraph also differentiates between public health and population health, noting that both fields utilize health promotion strategies. It acknowledges the frustration and challenges associated with health promotion, particularly when aiming for significant societal changes that require time, effort, and political support.

10:01

🌟 The Broader Impact of Health Promotion

The final paragraph of the script discusses the broader implications of health promotion, linking it to social causes such as civil rights and indigenous rights. It argues that by advocating for equal rights and fair treatment, health promoters are also contributing to improved health outcomes. The paragraph emphasizes the long-term nature of such social changes and the need for ongoing struggle and political investment. It concludes by foreshadowing the discussion of the Ottawa Charter in the next module, which is a foundational document for the concept of health promotion.

Keywords

💡Health Promotion

Health Promotion is defined as a process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health. It is central to the video's theme, emphasizing empowerment and self-improvement rather than coercion. The script illustrates this by discussing how a health promoter helps individuals make better decisions for their health, such as reducing smoking or improving diet, and by considering interventions at various levels, from individual to national.

💡BPK Student

BPK Student refers to a student pursuing a Bachelor of Physical and Health Education degree. The term is used in the script to set the context of the audience's existing knowledge base about the body's structure, function, and movement, and to highlight the gap that health promotion aims to bridge—applying this knowledge to improve public health.

💡Physical Inactivity

Physical Inactivity is a state of lacking sufficient bodily movement to maintain health. In the script, it is used to exemplify a health issue that a health promoter might address, particularly at the country level, by considering the prevalence of inactivity and strategizing to increase activity levels among the population.

💡Social Well-being

Social Well-being is part of the holistic concept of health, encompassing an individual's social health and relationships. The script mentions social well-being as one of the three areas (along with physical and mental well-being) that health promotion might focus on, aiming to improve overall health by fostering social connections and community support.

💡Mental Well-being

Mental Well-being refers to an individual's psychological state, including their emotional, cognitive, and social health. The video script discusses mental well-being as a key component of health promotion, suggesting that interventions can be designed to improve mental health and overall quality of life.

💡Knowledge Translation

Knowledge Translation is the process of moving knowledge from discovery to practical application. In the script, the speaker mentions using knowledge translation as a method of health promotion, particularly at the community level, to disseminate information that can lead to healthier behaviors and decisions.

💡Public Policy

Public Policy is a set of decisions and actions taken by governments to address public problems. The script suggests that working in public policy is one way to make a difference in health promotion, by influencing laws and regulations that can impact public health on a large scale.

💡Ottawa Charter

The Ottawa Charter is a foundational document for the concept of health promotion, outlining strategies for improving public health. The script mentions the Ottawa Charter as an important reference for understanding the principles and approaches of health promotion, which will be discussed in more detail in the subsequent module.

💡Population Health

Population Health refers to the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group. The script differentiates between population health and public health, noting that population health often involves monitoring and intervening based on the determinants of health within a specific group.

💡Upstream Intervention

Upstream Intervention is a term used to describe actions taken to prevent problems before they occur. In the context of the script, upstream interventions in health promotion might include policies or educational programs aimed at stopping negative behaviors like smoking before they start, thus promoting health from the outset.

💡Downstream Intervention

Downstream Intervention addresses issues after they have already occurred. The script contrasts this with upstream intervention, using smoking cessation programs as an example of a downstream approach, where the focus is on helping individuals quit smoking after they have already started the habit.

Highlights

Introduction to health promotion and its role in the semester.

Health promotion's focus on how to help others improve their health and well-being.

The importance of understanding the body's structure, function, and movement in health promotion.

The question of how to make a difference in people's lives through health promotion.

Health promotion as a process of enabling people to increase control over their health.

The concept that health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector.

Health defined as a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being.

The goal of health promotion is to help people make good decisions and take control of their health.

Health promotion's potential to reduce disease rates but not as its main goal.

The difference between upstream and downstream health promotion interventions.

The role of public health and population health in health promotion.

The challenges and frustrations of health promotion, including the time and effort required.

The importance of political investment and support in health promotion efforts.

Examples of long-term health promotion efforts, such as the civil rights movement.

Indigenous rights as a global health promotion issue affecting health and well-being.

The Ottawa Charter's foundational role in the concept of health promotion.

Transcripts

in this module we are going to

give you an introduction into health

promotion so you have a good idea of

what it is

to set the tone for the rest of the

semester

so so far in your degree as a bpk

student

you have learned a lot about how the

body is structured

how it functions and how it moves and

you've also

probably have a decent understanding of

what things are good for the body and

what things

are not so good for the body okay none

of that

is what this class is about because

after learning all of that

there's still a question that remains

knowing how my body works

and what's good for my body how does

that actually make a difference in other

people's lives

how do i actually help people to do

things that are better for them like

not drinking so much or moving more

or eating kind of a healthier diet

how do i get other people to make

differences

in their lives and to be healthier how

do i help families

feel more connected and improve their

social well-being and mental well-being

how do i help families be active and to

be healthy

and how do i help more at a higher level

how do i help change some things that

are happening in countries that make

them

let's say less healthy so for instance

in this slide

it looks at physical inactivity and the

darker you see certain countries that

means that there's higher levels of

physical inactivity

a health promoter is going to ask

themselves how do i make a difference

at the country level or at the

individual level

or at the community level how do i make

a difference and that's something that i

would really encourage you to think

about this semester

is where is probably going to be your

area of intervention

of promoting health and there's lots of

different ways to do that

but you're probably more set up to

promote health in one way compared to

others

for instance i don't work one-on-one

with people

i try to promote health through

knowledge translation and i do that more

at the community level

but for you maybe you want to work in

public policy maybe you want to work

one-on-one people

think about where you want to make a

difference because that's going to

affect

how you are going to be a health

promoter in your life okay

so what is health promotion good

question so health promotion

is a process it's a process

of enabling people to increase

control over and to improve their health

the main message here is by being a

health promoter

i make it easier for other people to

make good decisions

and to take control of their own health

i am not forcing them to be healthy

i'm helping them be healthy by

themselves

okay or within their community or again

with it at the national level

okay and i like this last concept here

that health promotion is

not just the responsibility of the

health sector

okay so like again politicians make a

difference in health

urban planners make a difference in

health people that run

schools and hospitals and gyms of

all of these that people make a

different health advertisers

there's so many different areas where

you can be a health promoter

just because we keep using the term

health what does the term health mean

health is the complete state of physical

mental and social well-being

so with health promotion you might want

to focus on one of those areas

physical mental or social well-being or

maybe you

try looking at interventions that do all

three you know that would be kind of the

trifecta

of health promotion is helping people

increase control

over their physical mental and social

well-being

so they can do it even when you're not

around that's a good health promoter

so although with health promotion we

might lead to a reduction in disease

rates at a population

that's not really the main goal of

health promotion it's not just about

people

not getting lung cancer for instance or

obesity for instance another disease

so let's look at the example of lung

cancer so lung cancer of course i don't

want people to get it but also

i want them not to smoke just so they

are also healthier

right now so it's not just about

preventing something but it's about

the the moment it's about well-being in

the now

and not just stopping something from

happening okay

so of course health promotion efforts

make a difference in disease

but that's not really the main focus of

health promotion okay although public

health might look more at that or

population health might look more at

that

okay we often talk about health

promotion as being upstream but some

people argue that it can also be

downstream

so upstream means that we are doing

interventions

before that negative behavior even

starts so for instance if we're again

using the example of smoking

an upstream intervention could be to

like eliminate all

the cigarettes in an entire country of

course that's not going to happen

that would be very effective right

stopping it before it even started

another example of an upstream

intervention with smoking is making

cigarettes really expensive

okay or limiting where people can

actually smoke

okay limiting where you can smoke that

might be more downstream a downstream

intervention would be more like

okay well people already smoke how do i

get them to quit

or how do i lessen the harm that that

cigarette smoke does

okay so you could argue that

all of those kind of areas are all

health promotion

although typically when we talk about

health promotion we're talking more

about these proximal upstream

interventions

that kind of stop that negative behavior

before it starts or makes it harder

or starts that positive behavior

from the get-go so i mentioned the terms

public health and population health and

i think it's worth just differentiating

between these two

um and they're often used

interchangeably and quite honestly i'm

not going to test about the difference

between these two terms because i

struggle with the difference myself

um and like i said they're often used

interchangeably

population health though typically deals

with looking at a population and the

determinants of health within a

population

monitoring that population for what is

affecting its health in a positive way

or negative way

and then maybe thinking about how to

intervene

public health is more about like what

can we as a society

do to improve the health of our society

usually we're talking about policies

here usually we're talking like the

public health agency of canada

is concerned with like national issues

of health

okay however both public health

and population health often use health

promotion tactics

or the concept of health promotion okay

so health promotion is really about

making a difference

making a difference in people's lives by

helping them make a difference in their

own lives

okay so that's a bit of the difference

between those terms

so to kind of end this first uh

section of the first module i want to

talk a little bit a little bit about why

health promotion is super frustrating

though

it is because albertan is frustrating

because it takes time

it takes a lot of time and sometimes you

have to fight for a difference

especially if you want to make like big

changes

at like the public level at the country

level

this takes time you kind of have to

fight for it you got to know the right

people and typically you need political

investment too

okay so a really good example of things

that have taken a long time and that are

still being fought for

are the civil rights movement in the

united states right or what we used to

call the civil rights movement which

was some still called that in a lot of

circles the civil rights movement we

often talk about it with

with respect to black people in wanting

the right to vote

deserving the right to vote and fighting

for the right to vote

okay well they got the right to vote but

that doesn't mean like everything's cool

within that society you know there are

still

other matters that they are still

fighting for

just to be treated equally just to be

treated fairly

just to not be like the recipients of

systemic racism

okay so these are things that people are

still fighting for

that really do need political investment

political capital

for people to be interested in it as

well for it to make a difference

and it can be really frustrated when

you're fighting for a cause

and you don't see a difference right

away but little things

do make a difference over time okay

shoulders of giants is what we all stand

on another example of a movement

that is still going on that people are

still fighting for

and still fighting for kind of basic

human rights which of course affects

their health as well

definitely affects mental physical and

spiritual and social well-being too

is indigenous rights and this isn't just

a fight that's going on in canada

this is one that's been happening around

the world right where

people that are indigenous to lands who

have been displaced and who their land

has been in a lot of cases taken from

them

they're fighting for to keep their

culture

to keep their traditions to not be

persecuted

to be treated fairly to have the same

advantages that

that they had or that other people have

as well

and again these things all affect their

health too

so you could argue that that these two

things

are not really health promotion they're

more like social causes

but absolutely health promotion is

locked into these

two because by helping people to have

equal rights

right we're also helping them increase

their ability

to take control of their own lives and

their own health

too okay so like i said there's lots of

way to be health promoters

but i gotta tell you that the higher

level the more of a difference you want

to make

the more time it takes and the more you

need kind of the right people on your

side too

and sometimes the more you have to fight

for it so some things to keep in mind as

we start this course

we'll see in the next module when we

talk about a really important document

called the ottawa charter

which was really foundational to this

whole concept of health promotion