Health Promotion Programs: From Theory to Practice

Book Preface

The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) is a nonprofit professional organization founded in 1950. SOPHE’s mission is to provide global leadership to the profession of health education and health promotion and to promote the health of society through advances in health education theory and research, excellence in professional preparation and practice, advocacy for public policies conducive to health, and the achievement of health equity for all. SOPHE is the only independent professional organization devoted exclusively to health education and health promotion.

SOPHE’s membership extends health education principles and practices to many settings, including schools; universities; medical and health care settings; work sites; voluntary health agencies; international organizations; and federal, state, and local governments.

Contact SOPHE at 10 G Street N.W., Suite 605, Washington, DC 20002-4242; telephone: (202) 408-9804; website: www.sophe.org

We are pleased to share this second edition of Health Promotion Programs: From Theory to Practice. In the short period of time since the first edition was published in 2010, health promotion programs have evolved to be integral to promoting a culture of health and wellness and to health care across the United States and internationally. The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) recognized the need for a book to help advance the field. Escalating rates of chronic disease, soaring health care costs, and increasing diversity of the U.S. population, as well as aging of the current health education workforce, all call for training a new generation of health promoters. The SOPHE board of trustees, executive director, and members offer this book, which combines the theoretical and practice base of the field with step-by-step practical sections on how to develop, implement, and evaluate health promotion programs. SOPHE hopes that this book, read in its entirety or in part, will help not only students who choose to major or minor in health education, health promotion, community health, public health, or health-related fields (e.g., environmental health, physical fitness allied health, nursing, or medicine) but also professionals already working who want to acquire the technical knowledge and skills to develop successful health promotion programs. Acquiring the competencies to effectively plan, implement, and evaluate health promotion programs can improve health outcomes, promote behavioral and social change, and contribute to eliminating health disparities. This book offers a concise summary of the many years of research in the fields of health education and health promotion, along with the expertise of many SOPHE members working in diverse contemporary settings and programs. The book also reflects SOPHE’s mission and its commitment to professional preparation and continuing education for the purpose of improving the quantity and quality of the lives of individuals and communities.

Undergraduate and graduate programs that prepare professionals to work in public health, health education, and health promotion and wellness have been flourishing in the United States and throughout the world for more than half a century. Thousands of students graduate every year with a baccalaureate or advanced degree in health promotion and get jobs in schools, colleges, businesses, health care facilities and systems, community organizations, and government.

We are enormously grateful to the many SOPHE members who wrote this book. Their expertise inmany fields, including health education, public health, sociology, anthropology, psychology, nursing, medicine, physical education, nutrition, allied health, and many others, have been braided into this health promotion anthology. They have shared the foundations of the field as well as their ownpractical experiences in health promotion planning. May this book help teach, guide, inspire, catalyze, and transform students and professionals in their quest to develop successful health promotion programs that address the health challenges of both today and tomorrow.