Ecological Models And Health Behavior Change

1659 Words4 Pages

Ecological Models And Health Behavior Change
On individual level changes in health promotion and ecological approaches target and influence multiple health behaviors. This is because the individuals living in the environment are embedded in temporary change of behaviors. Therefore it is very important to consider ecological approaches, changing health behaviors and environmental factors while designing operational and supportable health promotion plans.
Healthcare promotion is primarily based upon the public health and under this the world has changed very rapidly. Prevention against the diseases is the main health care issues and many professionals have derived many possible solutions to it. Application of ecological approaches in targeting the health promotion which is influenced by a number of environmental factors like consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, open access to exercise, good sanitation and hygiene are very strong and persistent. The basis of the ecological system is health behaviors changes, healthcare promotion and the environmental determinants are all interrelated. One of the best ecological model that describes such connections is PRECEDE-PROCEED planning model. According to this and many other ecological models all these approaches foster the behavior changes by targeting the environmental factors which changes the actions and decisions of the people (Green & Kreuter, 2005).
In this essay I will discuss the health behavior changes towards obesity epidemic and the control can only be made possible by an ecological solution. The value expectancy theories can be related to the cause and changing the behaviors towards diet and exercise and to produce long term changes influencing the environment. In many ca...

... middle of paper ...

...d influcens health behavior, and ultimately population health.
Therefore we conclude on this note that ecological models are applicable and effective with changing health behaviors for an individual in the daily life, such as eating behaviors, exercising behaviors, influential environmental factors. There are multiple examples that support the idea of the structural changes influencing the environment and the outcome is great influence on the development of the chronic disease. The process of behavior change depends on the personal (physical activity, diet, and substance of use and abuse), supportive (means to provide healthy diet and physical exercise), structural (parks, gyms and walkways) and public policies (restriction on smoking in public areas). The key is to identify the controls and focus on the outcomes by managing the changes in the health behaviors.

Open Document