DISCUSS THE CONCEPT OF HEALTH PROMOTION AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO Essay

DISCUSS THE CONCEPT OF HEALTH PROMOTION AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO POSITIVE HEALTH - Essay Example In some cases, the drivers of such actions are individuals; whereas, in other cases, such as alcoholism and smoking, a collective mindset and use of force is necessary. Such cases may require use of coercion to enforce the corrective action. A significant aspect of health promotion is health education which aims at creating learning experiences for people by imparting knowledge related to the various elements of health and demonstrating what actions are needed to maintain good health (Green & Kreuter, 1999). Health education maybe an individual or a collective effort; it may result in direct benefit (to the person who is suffering from health problems) or indirect benefit/ positive externality (to people other than the person being educated) (Bandura, 1977). What distinguishes health education from secondary learning is that health education is a methodical, planned learning exercise which is proactively undertaken in order to make people aware of the various risks associated with he alth and their possible solutions (Ottoson & Green, 1987). The concept of health promotion; however, extends beyond that of health education in that the former attempts to facilitate the high quality of life outcomes proposed by health education . It provides the necessary organizational, political, social and economic mechanisms needed to achieve the objectives proposed by health education. In other words, one may infer that health education is a pre requisite to health promotion; without self-awareness regarding health-related issues health promotion is futile. Without health education, health promotion would be limited to a politically manipulated activity marked by death of the â€Å"social† aspect of health promotion needed to avoid the manipulation. Over the years, there has been a growing shift of responsibility associated with positive health outcomes from the government and environmental agencies to individuals (Bunton, 1993). Thus the balance has tilted from environ mental activists, medical agencies and public service institutions to individuals, schools, and households (Bunton, 1993). This has been made possible by the rapid influx and falling prices of technology, greater awareness through media as well as high levels of community support for such health promotion programs. Schools are not volunteering in educating students about healthy diet and issues such as obesity, AIDS, as well as preventing the use of drugs and alcohol (Tonin, 1980). Community organizations have sprung up in order to promote better standards of living for its members. Such action involves greater co ordination and communication across various sectors of the society (Thorogood, 1992). However, in order to achieve the intended outcomes and attain maximum efficiency, health promotion must be simultaneously achieved at both levels (the individual and collective) (Thorogood, 1992). Thus, all groups pursuing health promotion ought to decide their share of contribution to th e overall effort in the context of local culture and lifestyle (Thorogood, 1992). Victims of poor health are a vital component of this decision-making process and their views on which group should attain maximum responsibility ought to be taken into account (Green, 1986) (Flynn et al.,

The Diamond Necklace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Diamond Necklace - Essay Example There is no discernable reason for why the necklace was lost. Of course the loss itself can be attributed to the displaced mind of Mathilde as she was dancing in the ball or even the manner in which she decided to find a cab in the cold but in essence, it seems that she was simply fated to lose it. Her dreams of being the darling of the ball certainly came true but it must be noted that in the story itself the men around her seem to be greatly enamored by her charm and beauty rather than the diamonds on her neck. Of course, she might have owed a great deal of her confidence to the diamonds she was wearing but she didn’t notice that she had lost them till she had come back home from the ball. This loss and the drama which unfolded afterwards could have been entirely different had she not focused no appearing to be beautiful and had let her natural charms shine through. However, her thinking that she was inferior to others simply because she did not have their trappings and accessories only led to misery towards her. Further, her decision to lie to her friend and seek to replace the necklace might have gone differently had she confessed to her friend and found out the truth about the diamonds earlier rather than replacing a fake set of diamonds with a real one by taking loans she and her husband had to work for years to repay. Placed in the same situation, I would have certainly gone and confessed to the friend. At worst, I would have still gone through and begged or borrowed to recover the loss for my friend but in that case I would at least have a chance of knowing that the set was a fake one. Further, this confession and the immense guilt which Mathilde had shown at the loss might have made the friend forgive and forget about the necklace if she were a kind soul. Another thing which she could have done, if Mathilde was not too worried about the ethics of the matter, is that she could have replaced the set