Social Media Campaign as a Tool for Patient Education of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Public awareness campaigns have played a crucial role in improving the health of communities, as they directly affect people's perception and behavior towards a specific topic, especially on disease prevention and health promotion. This can be seen in campaigns focused on, for example, infectious disease prevention such as HIV, tuberculosis, dengue, and more recently, COVID-19. Formerly, awareness campaigns took a very traditional approach using printed promotional materials, in-person conferences, and television and radio commercials as their primary way of reaching their target audience. This chapter describes an alternative method for reaching new audiences, in a society where social media has taken over as the public's main source of information and entertainment. These platforms can be used to extend important public health information to connect with and educate the public. The authors believe that this approach may increase the public's response towards emerging public health concerns as well as aid the digitalization of medicine through the evolution of telemedicine.

Strengthening health promotion practice: capacity development for a transdisciplinary field

The growing burden of non-communicable and newly emerging communicable diseases, multi-morbidity, increasing health inequalities, the health effects of climate change and natural disasters and the revolution in communication technology require a shift of focus towards more preventive, people-centred and community-based health services. This has implications for the health workforce, which needs to develop new capacities and skills, many of which are at the core of health promotion. Health promotion is thus being mainstreamed into modern public health. For health promotion, this offers both opportunities and challenges. A stronger focus on the enablers of health enhances the strategic importance of health promotion’s whole-of-society approach to health, showcases the achievements of health promotion with regard to core professional competencies, and helps build public health capacity with health promotion accents. On the other hand, mainstreaming health promotion can weaken its organizational capacity and visibility, and bears the risk of it being absorbed into a traditional public health discourse dominated by medical professions. To address these challenges and grasp the opportunities, it is essential for the health promotion workforce to position itself within the diversifying primary care and public health field. Taking the transdisciplinary status of health promotion and existing capacity development systems in primary and secondary prevention and health promotion as reference points, this paper considers the possibilities to integrate and implement health promotion capacities within and across disciplinary boundaries, arguing that the contribution of health promotion to public health development lies in the complementary nature of specialist and mainstreamed health promotion.

Prevalence, incidence and outcome of periodontal diseases among the elderly

When compared to adults, older persons have a higher prevalence and incidence of periodontal diseases. The prevalence of periodontitis is substantially greater in the geriatrics group, which is 75 years old on average, compared to those who are 60 years old on average. Periodontitis can lead to tooth loss if natural periodontal therapies are not used. Periodontitis is the sixth most frequent incurable illness in the world, characterized by bacterial-induced and host-mediated deterioration of both soft and hard structures around the teeth. A severe type of periodontitis affects around 10% of the world's population. Periodontitis is more frequent in adults because of its chronic and debilitating nature, with around 66% of the 65-year-old age group in the United States afflicted by chronic periodontitis. A critical component of a successful disease prevention and health promotion trajectory is having up-to-date information on demographics, clinical symptoms, and illness burden on individuals, particularly in underrepresented regions where preventive programs are targeted and executed. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the existing research on the prevalence, incidence, and consequences of periodontal diseases in the older population.

Health indices for the evaluation and monitoring of health in children and adolescents in prevention and health promotion: a scoping review

Background Health indicators are used in different settings to monitor health outcomes. Child and adolescent health is arguably one of the most important areas for the application of indices and indicators in prevention and health promotion. Although single health indicators may be better suited to display the complexity of the health status and its determinants, a selected set of indicators will still offer a complex picture. Therefore, it is argued that a group of indicators combined into an index may offer a pragmatic tool that is easier to use in order to inform stakeholders. Methods A scoping review was conducted to identify and describe health indices that monitor and evaluate health of children and adolescents and to appraise the quality and value of the identified indices that may guide the further applications of these indices in particular settings. The three bibliographic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO were searched and a double screening of titles and abstracts as well as double screening of full texts was performed. Indices contained in these studies were analysed in terms of focus and composition and evaluated in terms of quality criteria. Results The scoping review identified 36 eligible studies with 18 health indices in six thematic categories. Of the identified indices, seven indices focus on anthropometrical variables, three indices focus on special aspects of newborns and five indices focus on oral health. One index assesses “healthy lifestyle” and one “functional ability” whereas one index a combination of different aspects. Most indices are calculated by using primary health data. Conclusions Alone or in combination with single sets of indicators, indices in six major thematic domains may be used as pragmatic tools for monitoring children’s and adolescents´ health and the evaluation of interventions in health promotion and prevention settings.

An Ounce of Prevention: Reducing Ageism Through the Lens of Public Health

Ageism is pervasive. The negative consequences of ageism are vast, and the literature on the effects of ageism on health and health care is extensive. The perpetrators of ageism are equally vast. While it may be tempting to believe that those who go into the fields of gerontology and geriatrics are free from these attitudes and behaviors, this is untrue. It is reasonable to suspect that future public health professionals, even those interested in gerontology, may also carry ageist ideas and practices into their professional careers. This research was developed to determine whether teaching about aging and ageism in a public health course could reduce ageism among students. Participants were students in a class on aging and public health. All students were graduate students in a Master of Public Health (MPH) program. Multiple assessments were used to assess ageism including the Framboni Scale of Ageism (FSA), a validated 29-question measure used to assess ageism, and the Succession, Identity, and Consumption (SIC) scale, another scale assessing ageism. Students were enrolled in an elective course on aging and public health, which was taught through the public health lens of disease prevention and health promotion. Health topics related to aging are discussed with an emphasis on prevention. The contributions older adults make, and the resulting improved health and well-being of self, others, and community are promoted. And the class participates in activities with a variety of community-dwelling older adults. Results show that ageism among students is reduced after the semester long course.

Cross-national comparisons of health indicators require standardized definitions and common data sources

Background Health indicators are used to monitor the health status and determinants of health of the population and population sub-groups, identify existing or emerging health problems which would require prevention and health promotion activities, help to target health care resources in the most adequate way as well as for evaluation of the success of public health actions both at the national and international level. The quality and validity of the health indicator depends both on available data and used indicator definition. In this study we will evaluate existing knowledge about comparability of different data sources for definition of health indicators, compare how selected health indicators presented in different international databases possibly differ, and finally, present the results from a case study from Finland on comparability of health indicators derived from different data sources at national level. Methods For comparisons, four health indicators were selected that were commonly available in international databases and available for the Finnish case study. These were prevalence of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and asthma in the adult populations. Our evaluation has three parts: 1) a scoping review of the latest literature, 2) comparison of the prevalences presented in different international databases, and 3) a case study using data from Finland. Results Literature shows that comparability of estimated outcomes for health indicators using different data sources such as self-reported questionnaire data from surveys, measured data from surveys or data from administrative health registers, varies between indicators. Also, the case study from Finland showed that diseases which require regular health care visits such as diabetes, comparability is high while for health outcomes which can remain asymptomatic for a long time such as hypertension, comparability is lower. In different international health related databases, country specific results differ due to variations in the used data sources but also due to differences in indicator definitions. Conclusions Reliable comparison of the health indicators over time and between regions within a country or across the countries requires common indicator definitions, similar data sources and standardized data collection methods.

Methodological issues in economic evaluations of disease prevention and health promotion: an overview of systematic and scoping reviews

Background We aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of methodological challenges in economic evaluations of disease prevention and health promotion (DPHP)-measures. Methods We conducted an overview of reviews searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, NHS Economic Evaluation Database, Database of Promoting Health Effectiveness Reviews, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and Database of Promoting Health Effectiveness Reviews (DOPHER) (from their inception to October 2021). We included both systematic and scoping reviews of economic evaluations in DPHP addressing following methodological aspects: (i) attribution of effects, (ii) outcomes, (iii) inter-sectoral (accruing to non-health sectors of society) costs and consequences and (iv) equity. Data were extracted according to the associated sub-criteria of the four methodological aspects including study design economic evaluation (e.g. model-based), type/scope of the outcomes (e.g. outcomes beyond health), perspective, cost categories related to non-health sectors of society, and consideration of equity (method of inclusion). Two reviewers independently screened all citations, full-text articles, and extracted data. A narrative synthesis without a meta-analysis or other statistical synthesis methods was conducted. Results The reviewing process resulted in ten systematic and one scoping review summarizing 494 health economic evaluations. A lifelong time horizon was adopted in about 23% of DPHP evaluations, while 64% of trial-based evaluations had a time horizon up to 2 years. Preference-based outcomes (36%) and non-health outcomes (8%) were only applied in a minority of studies. Although the inclusion of inter-sectoral costs (i.e. costs accruing to non-health sectors of society) has increased in recent years, these were often neglected (between 6 and 23% depending on the cost category). Consideration to equity was barely given in economic evaluations, and only addressed in six of the eleven reviews. Conclusions Economic evaluations of DPHP measures give only little attention to the specific methodological challenges related to this area. For future economic DPHP evaluations a tool with structured guidance should be developed. This overview of reviews was not registered and a published protocol does not exist.

Behavioural determinants of health and disease

This chapter reviews ways in which behaviour relates to the spectrum of health and disease determinants, from environmental to genetic, in shaping health outcomes. It builds on the previous chapters in recognizing the powerful influence of socioeconomic and cultural factors, especially poverty and discrimination, in influencing both behaviour and health. Many commentaries in the past four decades have attempted to correct the overemphasis on individual behavioural determinants of health by discounting and sometimes disparaging any focus on individual behaviour or personal responsibility in disease prevention and health promotion. This chapter seeks a middle ground, building on the growing understanding of the ecological and cultural context of the behaviour–health relationship. It seeks to integrate that knowledge in an approach to public health that acknowledges the reciprocal determinism of behavioural, environmental, and biological determinants rather than minimizing the importance of behaviour in these complex interactions.

Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Strategies: The Possible Side Effects of Their Good Intentions

The public health policies are principally implemented using two main strategies, namely, the population strategy and the high-risk strategy. The purpose of this article is to discuss possible side effects of the good intentions of these two main strategies. The discussions herein are made based on our perspectives and literature study methodology. Main findings portray that the disease prevention and health strategies are applied on a skewed basis, and more so, they are mainly based on medical culture and take little account of human culture. This implies that in order for individuals to comply with the health authorities’ demands, they must give up their own lifestyle coping-strategies that are contradictive to the demands. Hence, the possible side effects of the disease prevention and health promotion strategies’ good intentions; as the strategies have no explicit mandate to change the cultural norms and values. Therefore, we argue that adaptations to make the strategies more inclusive may promote public healthcare in the sense that it can work for everyone’s lifestyle, as individuals can easily take healthy actions in the normal course of their lives.