Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

136 Philosophical Foundations of Health Education
attainment, positive reinforcement, behavior contracting, and self - monitoring/management
skills. Modeling behavior of the health educator is an essential component to
successful health education behavior change programs (Brennan & Galli, 1985;
Blomquist, 1986). Modeling has been found to aid in the educational processes of
attention, retention, motor performance, and motivation.
Advantages of behavior change philosophy in health education include its versatility;
it can be applied to various health content areas in a variety of health education
settings. Behavior change philosophy can produce changes in lifestyles in a relatively
short period of time, and behaviorally based programs are easy to evaluate.
Critiques of this philosophical approach to health education cite limitation of
individual choice, unnecessarily pessimistic approach, and ethical limitations to
appropriate intervention, among others (Russell, 1983; Paul, 1984; Greenberg, 1978).
Despite criticism, behavior change philosophers contend that successful health education
is rooted in the ability to develop and maintain or change behaviors (King,
1982). Knowledge, theories, values, and critical thinking skills mean little if a person
continues behavioral choices that create harm. The role of health educators is to
assist their clientele in the acquisition of health behaviors conducive to a healthy
lifestyle.
ARTICLES
The articles in Part 4 touch on the importance of behavior change philosophy in health
education and challenge professionals to expand their understanding of behavior
change as it relates to health education. Fertman (2002) encourages health educators
to use their unique skills to push behavioral health toward care and promotion. The
concept of psychoneuroimmunology is examined in relation to the effect of nutrition,
exercise, drugs, emotions, and environmental influences on the bodymind relationship
and behavioral health (Read & Stoll, 1998). Garman, Teske, and Crider (2001)
approach behavior change in health education from a problem - based learning model.
Finally, Labonte (1994) contrasts three approaches in health education — medical,
behavioral, and socioenvironmental — as they relate to empowerment. Each article
addresses an aspect of using health education to produce behavior change and acknowledges
the challenges in doing so.