An Ethic for Health Promotion

David R. Buchanan

ISBN 10: 019513057X / ISBN 13: 9780195130577

Published by Oxford University Press Inc, US, 2000

About this Item

What is the goal of public health promotion today? If the leading causes of mortality are primarily attributable to lifestyle behaviours, is the purpose of research to develop the power to change those behaviours, in the same way that science has been able to control infectious diseases? Or is the quest for effective behaviour modification techniques antithetical to the idea of promoting well-being defined in terms of individual autonomy, dignity and integrity? An Ethic for Health Promotion explores these questions.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780195130577

Bibliographic Details

• Title: An Ethic for Health Promotion
• Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc, US
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019513057X
• ISBN 13: 9780195130577
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 458 grams

About this title

Synopsis

What are the goals of health promotion and the most apropriate means of achieving them? The prevailing view is that these goals are to prolong life and reduce mortality rates. Since the leading causes of morbidity and mortality are now largely attributable to lifestyle behaviors--smoking, diet, exercise, etc.--the means of achieving reductions in heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes and other chronic conditins are to identify more effective techniques for changing people's behavior. Virtually all health promotion research is currently directed towards accomplishing this objective. But at what cost? As researchers strive for more effective ways to change people's behavior, what are the implications for individual autonomy, integrity, and responsibility? Buchanan sets out to explain why a science of health promotion is neither imminent or estimable. He argues that health promotin is inescapably a moral and political endeavor and that goals more befitting the realization of human well-being are to promote self-knowledge, individual autonomy, integrity, and responsibility through putting into practice more democratic processes of self-direction and mutual support in civil society.

About the Author

David R. Buchanan is at University of Massachusetts, School of Public Health and Health Sciences.