Project Group Task

Name: Beatriz Hipolito Soares

Name: Mehran Imani
Name: Melani Ploner

You need to develop your understanding of the health promotion approach

(environmental/social change) of your group by producing a presentation of your
interpretation of it.

1. Describe your approach. What are the main features of it?

The environmental approach within health promotion is interpreted as multidimensional
encompassing social, cultural as well as physical components. This contrasts with what is
described as environmental strategies in relation to health protection which construes physical
changes in the environment to for instance eliminate or reduce unhealthful and unsafe
environmental conditions. On the other hand, the health promotive outlook of environment is
seen beyond its function as a potential source of pathogens, toxins, and safety hazards but also
a source of health-promotive information and social support, which in turn could enable
higher levels of wellbeing in comparison to the health protection approach.

The environmentally based strategies of health promotion are considered to work best in
conjunction with behavioural-change and lifestyle modification programs. The environmental
enhancement interventions could be divided into five dimensions to influence health in
relation to the physical and social environment:

· Both social and physical environment could facilitate disease transmission through
interpersonal contact, for instance contagious waterborne and airborne diseases.

· The environment could serve as a stressor through for instance noise, political
upheaval, or interpersonal conflicts, which could all contribute to detrimental effects on
people’s mood, performance, and physiology.

· The environment could function as a place of safety or danger (e.g., social violence,
contamination).

· The environment as an enabler of health behaviour (e.g., safety devices in vehicles,

exposure to practices for the development of health promotive behaviour).

· The environment as a provider of health resources (e.g., effective sanitation systems,

public health services, and to ensure access to health insurance and primary care).

2. What are the advantages of your approach?

The environmental approach in health promotion stands out as a formidable strategy, offering
a substantial advantage in fostering a deeper understanding of the myriad situational factors
that can either bolster or hinder individuals in their quest to enhance their health practices and
overall well-being. These models not only illuminate the direct and frequently overlooked
impact of physical and social surroundings on individual well-being but also emphasize how
this influence can either compromise the positive effects of healthy practices or exacerbate the
negative outcomes linked to unhealthy and injury-prone behaviors. In contrast to traditional
behavioral and lifestyle modification programs, environmental enhancement strategies in
health promotion wield a greater potency. Their effectiveness lies in their capacity to extend
benefits to everyone exposed to a specific environment, steering clear of the narrow focus on
improving the health of individual persons one at a time. Take, for example, health promotion
initiatives grounded in environmental factors, which often accentuate passive interventions.
These interventions operate on the premise of simultaneously improving the health of
numerous individuals without necessitating their voluntary and sustained effort. This marks a
departure from conventional approaches that rely heavily on individuals actively engaging in
behavioral changes or lifestyle modifications to achieve desired health outcomes. By
prioritizing the environmental context, health promotion endeavors can cast a wider net,
influencing the health and well-being of entire communities. This broader perspective
acknowledges the interconnectedness of individuals within a shared environment and
recognizes the collective impact of interventions. Consequently, environmental approaches
underscore the importance of creating settings that inherently promote health, making positive
practices more accessible and sustainable for a larger population. This nuanced understanding
of health promotion not only addresses the immediate needs of individuals but also considers
the broader societal implications, paving the way for more holistic and inclusive approaches
to well-being.

Social ecological approaches in health promotion excel in integrating strategies for behavioral
change and environmental enhancement within a comprehensive systems-theoretical
framework. These models emphasize analyzing health problems and interventions across
various levels, incorporating personal, organizational, and community aspects. This
multi-level perspective allows researchers to examine both individual and collective
expressions of health issues and the impacts of community interventions. By avoiding
exclusive focus on behavioral or environmental factors at single analytical levels, these
models explicitly consider the dynamic interplay among personal and situational factors in
health and illness at both individual and collective levels, addressing potential conceptual
blind spots.

3. What are the disadvantages of your approach?

The environmental approach in health promotion has some advantages, but also some limits.
First, interventions that focus on improving environmental quality have typically concentrated
on single aspects of the physical or social environment, for example: Indoor air quality,
seismic hazards, or social climate within work organizations. Rather than examining multiple
environmental dimensions and their interrelationships. Second, environmental health
promotion assessments pay little or no attention to the diverse behavioral patterns and
sociodemographic features of the people who live in specific places and situations. Evidently,
the health-related value of environmental improvements (e.g., designating workplaces as
"nonsmoking") may be decreased for those who keep engaging in unhealthy activities (such
as smoking cigarettes at home or during lunch breaks at work), as well as for those groups
who are more vulnerable to the negative health impacts of contaminants and stressors due to
financial constraints, educational level, and geographic mobility. As a result, environmental
approaches to health promotion frequently fail to recognize individual and group differences
in people's reactions to their sociophysical surroundings.

Also the social ecological approaches in health promotion have some practical disadvantages,
just like the integration of information from diverse fields, as well as close cooperation among
individuals and groups from various sectors of the community, which can be difficult to
maintain for a long time. In addition, combining active and passive treatments for health
promotion and incorporating multi-level, multi-method assessments of program effects over
long periods of time can be costly and logistically challenging. Such cross-level, longitudinal
studies of program success can be time-consuming and inconvenient to execute out.

4. References
Stokols D. Translating social ecological theory into guidelines for community health
promotion. Am J Health Promot. 1996 Mar-Apr;10(4):282-98. doi:
10.4278/0890-1171-10.4.282. PMID: 10159709.