Health promotion practice (2004)

In health promotion, the concept of power can be defined as the ability to create or resist change, and this is an important foundation for individual and community health. By enabling people to empower themselves, health promoters can provide the capacity for the individual or community to change their lives and their living conditions, and therefore their health. Health Promotion Practice explores the issue of how such an approach to health promotion practice can improve a community’s success towards achieving healthier conditions through its own actions. Placing empowerment at the heart of health promotion practice, and offering advice for health promoters who accept the challenge to work in such a way,

This book defines key concepts of health, health promotion and community empowerment. It also:

• Introduces readers to a ‘social’ model of health promotion practice, one that attempts to get at the underlying social determinants of disease; 
• Helps readers understand the importance of power relations and their transformation in this practice; 
• Introduces readers to a new community capacity-building’ approach to plan, implement and evaluate health promotion programmes.