Health promotion and health education viewed as symbiotic paradigms: bridging the theory and practice gap between them

Abstract

A recognized 'paradigm war' exists between the two distinct approaches of health education and health promotion practice. This tension is both unhealthy and unhelpful and is known to have a profound effect on nursing activity. Leading health promotionalists have begun to acknowledge the futility of the stated paradigm tension, realizing that health education and health promotion interventions are not that dissimilar in their origins and intentions. Progressive health education and health promotion programmes acknowledge the interrelatedness of both approaches and seek to incorporate favourable aspects of the two. The aim of this article is to present arguments and stances that help to diffuse/avoid the stated paradigm conflict, as a basis for health education and health promotion reform in nursing. It also seeks to clarify the nature of both health education and health promotion practice so as to avoid contextual confusion. In doing so, this article draws significantly from the author's previous work. This article concludes that the constructive review of any intended health education/health promotion programme lies in the consideration of each approach according to its own relative merits, what is required of the programme, and the nature of the setting in which the intervention takes place.

Health promotion and health education: advancing the concepts

“…This analogy leaves the educational approach somewhere in the middle, serving as an enabling/individual ‘impowerment’ process that bridges the gap between the two paradigms and demonstrates their inter‐relatedness (Whitehead 2003a). The extent to which the educational approach sits more closely with either health education or health promotion will depend on the degree to which it is structured to facilitate individual enablement or community‐based empowerment.…”

Engagement in E-Learning Opportunities: An Empirical Study on Patient Education using Expectation Confirmation Theory

“…In the United States, "health promotion" and "health education" are regarded as capital construction investments of health care in the medical industry [1]. Both of them are continually boosted in advanced countries all over the world [2].…”

Barriers and facilitators to optimize function and prevent disability worsening: a content analysis of a nurse home visit intervention

“…They further reveal that, during this negotiation process, specific factors associated with improving/maintaining disability can be more readily identified by using theoretical frameworks. Despite the ability of theoretical models to maximize self‐management skills, few international homecare studies report using theories to structure intervention components associated with disability outcomes (Whitehead 2001, 2003, Markle‐Reid et al. 2006, Liebel et al.…”