Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

56 Philosophical Foundations of Health Education
2. What kind of health education is needed as we move into the next century?
3. What do health educators need to do to meet the future with confidence?
FIVE THEMES THAT DRIVE CHANGE
This is a time of unprecedented change in the world. At least five things have been
identified as central themes that drive change (Cox & Hoover, 1992). I ’ m going to suggest
that in this moment, the practice of health education, and we as health educators,
are confronted by all five — and because we are — as we move toward the new century
we will fundamentally change the way we do business.
1. Whether or not we recognize it, changes in society will cause changes in our
essential mission as health educators . Our future task will not be to teach people
facts — to focus on their cholesterol number — the mission will be to help them
become more analytical thinkers, to be more able to deal with an uncertain and
complex environment. We will become people ’ s health enablers, helping them
to manage new and confusing information and to make decisions in turbulent
situations.
2. Our identity and image is changing . In my professional lifetime, health behavior
has moved from obscurity to the forefront of American culture. Health is “ chic ”
and more and more Americans are meditating, eating right, and exercising. By
association, we ’ ve been carried along on this wave to prominence, and we have
the potential for increasing credibility with a large audience that will become
even larger.
3. Our relationship to key stakeholders in the arena of health is changing . The medical
care establishment is slowly but surely experiencing an erosion of power.
The public is rethinking its health goals — slowly but inevitably shifting from
notions of longevity coupled with high tech medicine to notions of quality of life.
We have the potential for newer and stronger partnerships with the people and
communities who have always been the heath education constituents. Medicine
by necessity will become partners with us. Collaboration and partnership have
new, more powerful meaning for health education.
4. There are changes afoot in the way we work . We are in the midst of a shift back
to community - based health education interventions after more than a decade of
focus on individual behavior. We have a renewed sense of urgency for helping
to empower communities to find appropriate solutions to their health problems.
At the same time we have an amazing array of technology at our disposal. We
can reach people in new and powerful ways. I recently went to Washington, DC
where, at the offices of the Red Cross, a television hookup connected me to AIDS
educators around the country, and together we explored ways to improve community
education for AIDS. Computers, fax, and television are changing the way