Custom-Faceted Approach To Public Health
One of Schneider’s (2017) chapter titles in Introduction to Public Health explorations whether or not individuals choose their health (p. 193). This question is an excellent entry into the psychosocial and behavioral philosophies behind modern day health. There is no question that genetics and even epigenetics play a role in a person’s general health or the absence of disease, yet in developed countries such as the United States choice certainly plays a critical role. Equally, an individual’s choices may be limited by their upbringing or social economic status. Understanding the psychology behind choice through the social-ecological model has enabled public health workers to produce custom-tailored educational campaigns enabling successful
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It starts with the aforementioned intrapersonal reasons and ripples outward to the key influences from an individual’s community, institution (work or school) and even public policy that play significant roles in behavioral choices. However, each aspect is not an isolated influence; each can affect one or several areas of an individual’s life, which underlies the importance of addressing change in a multi-faceted approach (Centers for Disease Control, 2015, para. 1). One notable example of a public health initiative relying on epidemiological studies in order to change destructive social or learned behavior choices was the California Tobacco Cessation Campaign. Tobacco, identified as the leading cause of death, has highly addictive and destructive qualities. Regulations, one primary tool of public health, and disincentives or barriers were first enacted as a smoking cessation method. Laws prohibiting work-place smoking, and later public smoking in restaurants and schools alongside taxation helped curb some unhealth behaviors. Additionally, one of the most effective techniques was aggressive advertising campaigns tailored in a variety of ways to influence both teen and adult smokers to quit. Speaking from personal experience, I am an ex-smoker who repeatedly tried to quit. I started smoking as a teenager due to peer pressures and school anxieties. Addiction to nicotine is an extremely difficult habit to quit. I remember that it took multiple tries. For almost eighteen years now, I’ve been a non-smoker. I recall some of the things that helped make my decision to quit: commercials showing the horrible effects of smoking on lungs and the effects of second-hand smoke. According to Schneider (2017) these ads were some of the most effective communication tactics employed in the public service announcements in
It starts with the aforementioned intrapersonal reasons and ripples outward to the key influences from an individual’s community, institution (work or school) and even public policy that play significant roles in behavioral choices. However, each aspect is not an isolated influence; each can affect one or several areas of an individual’s life, which underlies the importance of addressing change in a multi-faceted approach (Centers for Disease Control, 2015, para. 1). One notable example of a public health initiative relying on epidemiological studies in order to change destructive social or learned behavior choices was the California Tobacco Cessation Campaign. Tobacco, identified as the leading cause of death, has highly addictive and destructive qualities. Regulations, one primary tool of public health, and disincentives or barriers were first enacted as a smoking cessation method. Laws prohibiting work-place smoking, and later public smoking in restaurants and schools alongside taxation helped curb some unhealth behaviors. Additionally, one of the most effective techniques was aggressive advertising campaigns tailored in a variety of ways to influence both teen and adult smokers to quit. Speaking from personal experience, I am an ex-smoker who repeatedly tried to quit. I started smoking as a teenager due to peer pressures and school anxieties. Addiction to nicotine is an extremely difficult habit to quit. I remember that it took multiple tries. For almost eighteen years now, I’ve been a non-smoker. I recall some of the things that helped make my decision to quit: commercials showing the horrible effects of smoking on lungs and the effects of second-hand smoke. According to Schneider (2017) these ads were some of the most effective communication tactics employed in the public service announcements in