Foundations of Public Health and Health Promotion Essay

Foundations of Public Health and Health Promotion - Essay Example The shortcomings of these models are addressed by the Red Lotus health promotion model which advocates for a value and principle system to guide actions in all aspects of health promotion process. Hawe, Degeling, and Hall Needs Assessment and Planning model conducts an assessment to obtain a comprehensive picture of the health issues and problems facing the community. Through this assessment, practitioners can guide their actions towards health intervention initiatives aimed at improving health conditions. The assessment process is divided into two stages. First, identifying health problem priorities. During this stage, data is collected and analysed to determine what health problems are critical so that priority to health problems is set (Hawe, Degeling & Hall, 1990). The magnitude of a specific health problem determines its priority in terms of needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Second, analysing the health problem. The aim of this stage is to gather more data about the factors that lead to the identified health problems. Once enough data is collected and analysed, priorities are set on how to address the health problems identified. Values and principles of health p romotion such as community empowerment and participation are then used to describe how to solve the health problems. The shortcoming of this model is that it takes a technical orientation approach to solving health problems. For example, it describes how health promotion problems should be addressed without putting emphasis on values and principles to guide actions and yield positive results. The Program Management Guidelines from New South Wales Health gives a guideline of steps to follow to guide actions. The guidelines given reflect actions that may occur simultaneous. It gives guideline on how to organize and plan the health promotion programs to