Effectual health promotion initiatives assist persons uphold and advance health, lessen disease risks, and control persistent illness (State of Victoria, 1999). They can enhance the interests and independence of persons, family units, businesses, and societies. Regularly, such achievements necessitate behavior change at numerous stages. It should be noted that not all health promotion initiatives are triumphant. The initiatives that achieve preferred results rely on an apparent comprehension of the aimed health behaviors and the perspective in which they come into play (State of Victoria, 1999). Health experts utilize theories to come up with initiatives and control them. In this article, the importance of theory in health promotion is analyzed.
With respect to healthcare promotion, a theory refers to a methodical means of perceiving events or state of affairs (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). It is a collection of models, designations, and propositions illustrating the events or state of affairs by indicating the relations between variables. Theories ought to be relevant to a number of situations. They are conceptual and do not have a particular theme. As such, theories are usually compared with empty vessels. They have forms and boundaries, but lack substance inside. When packed with practical themes, objectives, and problems they become effectual. They become useful when filled with practical topics, goals, and problems.
In public health, theory offers personnel with a number of benefits. It offers practitioner with means of advancing from instinct to design and appraisal of health performance and health promotion involvements in accordance with an understanding of the performance. As such, it helps the experts to review their initiatives from a wider perspective. Similar to an artiste, an initiative planner who comes up with health interventions in hypothesis generates groundbreaking means of tackling precise conditions (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). The planners do not rely on out of date and irrelevant approaches. Instead, they make use of a palette of performance theories competently utilizing them to come up with distinctive and customized answers to problems.
The use of theory as a basis for program planning in public health is in line with the present importance of utilizing evidence-based interventions in healthcare (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2005). It offers a guide for evaluating problems, coming up with applicable interventions, and assessing their accomplishments. Through this, it updates the planner’s thoughts all through these stages presenting approaches that turn into robust initiatives. Equally, theory can aid in clarifying the variables of health behaviors. Such behaviors include the procedures of transforming performances and the effects of a number of forces that shape health behaviors. Theory can as well aid planners recognize the most appropriate target addressees, means for nurturing change, and results for assessment. Likewise, it illustrates how to create program policies that attain target audiences’ expectations (Stephens, 2007).
In conclusion, public health researchers can utilize theory to look into answers to how and why health concerns should be tackled. By looking for solutions to these concerns, they shed light on the character of the aimed health behaviors. As such, theory directs the exploration for motives why persons do or do not take on in some health behaviors. By doing so, they aid in finding what planners require to be acquainted with prior to coming up with public health initiatives. Based on the above illustrations, it should be noted that program planning, execution, and control procedures grounded in theory have chances of achieving their objectives compared with those lacking theoretical standpoint.
References
State of Victoria (1999). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. Web.
Stephens, C. (2007). Participation in Different Fields of Practice: Using Social Theory to Understand Participation in Community Health Promotion. Journal of Health Psychology, 12(6), 949-960.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2005). Theory at a glance: A guide for health promotion practice. NIH Publication Journal, 05(3896), 1–37.