Question

Identify health education and promotion intervention components that can be applied to theories and models.

Your response must be at least 300 words in length.

Answer 1

Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Theories and Models

There are several theories and models that support the practice of health promotion and disease prevention. Theories and models are used in program planning to understand and explain health behavior and to guide the identification, development, and implementation of interventions.

When identifying a theory or model to guide health promotion or disease prevention programs, it is important to consider a range of factors, such as the specific health problem being addressed, the population(s) being served, and the contexts within which the program is being implemented. Health promotion and disease prevention programs typically draw from one or more theories or models.

Selected theories and models that are used for health promotion and disease prevention programs include:

• Ecological Models
• The Health Belief Model
• Stages of Change Model (Transtheoretical Model)
• Social Cognitive Theory
• Theory of Reasoned Action/Planned Behavior

  1) Ecological Models

  Theory at a Glance: A Guide for Health Promotion and Practiceframes the ecological perspective as

  “...the interaction between, and interdependence of, factors within and across all levels of a health problem. It highlights people’s interactions with their physical and sociocultural environments.”

  Ecological models recognize multiple levels of influence on health behaviors, including:

• Intrapersonal/individual factors, which influence behavior such as knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and personality.
• Interpersonal factors, such as interactions with other people, which can provide social support or create barriers to interpersonal growth that promotes healthy behavior.
• Institutional and organizational factors, including the rules, regulations, policies, and informal structures that constrain or promote healthy behaviors.
• Community factors, such as formal or informal social norms that exist among individuals, groups, or organizations, can limit or enhance healthy behaviors.
• Public policy factors, including local, state, and federal policies and laws that regulate or support health actions and practices for disease prevention including early detection, control, and management.

• Examples of Ecological Models

• Project HEART (Health Education Awareness Research Team)used an ecological model to design a health promotion and disease prevention program to address cardiovascular disease risk factors. The project uses a community health worker (CHW) promotora model to provide services.
• CDC's Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP) was designed to address multiple factors of influence on colorectal cancer prevention, using ecological model components.
• Rural networks and coalitions often acknowledge multiple factors of influence and may be designed using theoretical components of ecological models. More information is available in the Rural Health Networks and Coalitions Toolkit.   

• Considerations for Implementation

  The ecological perspective is a useful framework for understanding the range of factors that influence health and well-being. It is a model that can assist in providing a complete perspective of the factors that affect specific health behaviors, including the social determinants of health. Because of this, ecological frameworks can be used to integrate components of other theories and models, thus ensuring the design of a comprehensive health promotion or disease prevention program or policy approach.

  The Healthy People 2020 framework addresses the importance of ecological models in health promotion and disease prevention. Programs are most likely to be effective when they are designed to address the multiple levels of influence on health behaviors.