This is the product of compilation from various sources. I would like to acknowledge all direct and indirect sources although they have not been mentioned explicitly within the document.
Public health concept, i ketut swarjanaswarjana2012
Pemahaman tentang konsep kesehatan masyarakat atau public health concept sangat penting dalam rangka memahami lebih awal dasar dari konsep kesehatan masyarakat itu sendiri, sebelum lebih jauh belajar tentang IKM yang mencakup epidemiologi, manajemen kesehatan, promosi kesehatan dan lain-lain
This is the product of compilation from various sources. I would like to acknowledge all direct and indirect sources although they have not been mentioned explicitly within the document.
Public health concept, i ketut swarjanaswarjana2012
Pemahaman tentang konsep kesehatan masyarakat atau public health concept sangat penting dalam rangka memahami lebih awal dasar dari konsep kesehatan masyarakat itu sendiri, sebelum lebih jauh belajar tentang IKM yang mencakup epidemiologi, manajemen kesehatan, promosi kesehatan dan lain-lain
Concept and definitions
Health education
Beliefs and approaches in health promotion
Health promotion strategies and priority actions
Public health, social movement, health inequity and millennium goals
Canadian experience in health promotion
Conclusion
Patients and their families are given a multitude of information about their health and commonly must make important decisions from these facts. Obstacles that prevent easy delivery of health care information include literacy, culture, language, and physiological barriers. It is up to the nurse to assess and evaluate the patient's learning needs and readiness to learn because everyone learns differently.
Introduction to ethical issues in public health, Public Health Institute (PHI...Dr Ghaiath Hussein
An introduction to ethical issues in public health practice and research I gave to master students in the Public Health Institute in Sudan -- My Home Country. This was on Jan. 5, 2012.
Health systems, goals of health system,
Leadership and Governance
Human Resource for Health
Health Financing
Medicines and Technologies
Service Delivery, and
Health Information System
Health for all- primary health care- millennium development goalsAhmed-Refat Refat
PHC is the essential care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable method and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost they and the country can afford to maintain in the spirit of self reliance and self determination.
Al
Concept and definitions
Health education
Beliefs and approaches in health promotion
Health promotion strategies and priority actions
Public health, social movement, health inequity and millennium goals
Canadian experience in health promotion
Conclusion
Patients and their families are given a multitude of information about their health and commonly must make important decisions from these facts. Obstacles that prevent easy delivery of health care information include literacy, culture, language, and physiological barriers. It is up to the nurse to assess and evaluate the patient's learning needs and readiness to learn because everyone learns differently.
Introduction to ethical issues in public health, Public Health Institute (PHI...Dr Ghaiath Hussein
An introduction to ethical issues in public health practice and research I gave to master students in the Public Health Institute in Sudan -- My Home Country. This was on Jan. 5, 2012.
Health systems, goals of health system,
Leadership and Governance
Human Resource for Health
Health Financing
Medicines and Technologies
Service Delivery, and
Health Information System
Health for all- primary health care- millennium development goalsAhmed-Refat Refat
PHC is the essential care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable method and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost they and the country can afford to maintain in the spirit of self reliance and self determination.
Al
EMPHNET-PHE COurse: Module08 ethical codes and frameworksDr Ghaiath Hussein
This is a series of presentations I gave in the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET)'s Public Health Ethics (PHE) course that was held in Amman in June 2014.
This presentation outlines examples of the ethical frameworks and guidelines.
EMPHNET-PHE course: Module03 ethical issues in surveillance, screening and ou...Dr Ghaiath Hussein
This is a series of presentations I gave in the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET)'s Public Health Ethics (PHE) that was held in Amman in June 2014.
This presentation outlines the ethical issues related to surveillance, screening, and outbreak investigation.
Step III Provide Justification for a Particular Public Heal.docxwhitneyleman54422
Step III: Provide Justification for a
Particular Public Health Decision
• Effectiveness : Is the public health action likely to be
effective?
• Proportionality : Will the probable benefits of the action
outweigh the infringed moral considerations?
• Necessity: Is the action necessary (i.e., will overriding a
conflicting ethical norm achieve an important public health
goal)?
• Least Infringement : Is the public health action the least
restrictive means available?
• Public Justification: Can decision makers offer public
justification in the political and cultural context that
stakeholders , the public, and those most affected find
acceptable?
Step II: Formulate Alternative Courses of Action
and Evaluate their Ethical Dimensions
Other Moral Considerations in Public Health:
Are there other moral considerations in public
health that are important to consider? (For
example, reciprocity, solidarity, protecting
privacy and confidentiality; keeping promises
and commitments; or disclosing information
and speaking honestly, sometimes grouped as
transparency.)
Step II: Formulate Alternative Courses of Action
and Evaluate their Ethical Dimensions
• What are the short- and long-term options, given the
assessment of the public health issue and context in Step I?
• What are the ethical dimensions and tensions of each
option?
o Utility: Does the public health action produce the best balance
of benefits over harms and other costs ?
o Equity and Justice : Is health equity advanced? Are the benefits
and burdens distributed fairly ( distributive justice )? Is there
appropriate public participation , including the participation of
affected parties (procedural justice )?
o Respect for Individual and Community Interests: Does the
public health action respect self-determination and human
rights , as well as civic roles and community values (e.g.,
trustworthiness, solidarity) (Dawson and Jennings 2012 )?
Step I: Analyze the Ethical Dimensions
of the Public Health Issue and Context
• What are the risks , harms, or concerns?
• What are the appropriate public health goals in this
context?
• What is the scope and legitimacy of legal authority, and
which laws and regulations apply?
• What are the moral norms and claims of stakeholders , and
how strong are they?
• Are precedent legal or ethical cases relevant for identifying
the presumptive moral norms ?
• Which features of the social-cultural-historical context
apply?
• Do professional codes of ethics provide guidance?
Ethical Frameworks
• “What at first glance demarcates public health
ethics from related fields of health ethics are
the ethical problems that public health
professionals typically encounter in their
practice and the ethical frameworks used in
practice to address these problems.”
.
HCM 3305, Community Health 1 Course Learning Outcom.docxaryan532920
HCM 3305, Community Health 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
3. Recognize effective organization and promotion of health programming for community health on a
global scale.
3.1. Assess the steps for organizing a community health program.
3.2. Identify steps needed to effectively evaluate the community health program.
Reading Assignment
Chapter 15:
Systems Thinking and Leadership in Community and Public Health
Unit Lesson
In this unit, we will discuss systems thinking and community health programming.
Community organizing is a process that involves the engagement of individuals, groups, and organizations.
Program planning is not required in community organizing; however, it is often times used. Program planning
is a process where a health intervention is planned to meet the needs within a population. Antiviolence
campaigns and stress management courses are examples of program planning (McKenzie, Pinger, & Kotecki,
2012).
When deciding which community health interventions to create, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) uses Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide). The Community Guide
is considered credible because it is based off the scientific systematic review process. The guide answers
many questions that are critical to community health on subjects such as
interventions that have worked/did not work,
populations in which the intervention worked/did not work,
cost of the intervention,
benefits/risks of the intervention, and
future research recommendations (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015).
Community health programs are intricate and are a key factor in disease prevention, improving health, and
increasing quality of life. Health status and behaviors are determined by personal, environmental, policy, and
organizational influences. Community health programming is targeted at reaching the goals of Healthy People
2010. Community health programs are generally held within healthcare settings; however, other settings are
becoming more popular. Programs are being held at schools, worksites, religious organizations, and within
communities (Healthy People 2020, 2015). There are instances where healthcare organizations are
collaborating with schools to offer health programs. For instance, nutrition and exercise programs are being
offered at an increased rate. Employers see the value of employee health. Therefore, many employers offer
incentives to employees who take part in employee wellness programs. It is not far fetched to hear about
employers checking cholesterol, blood pressure, quality of life, weight, BMI, and sometimes glucose. The
rationale is that healthy employees are less likely to call in sick with health-related conditions.
Community health professionals must identify their health issue, and then create specific and measurable
goals and objectives. ...
Following on from the success of the second edition, 'Theory in a Nutshell 3e' explores the main theoretical concepts and models in health promotion and explains the significance, practical application and impact of different theories on the individual, community and organisation. This edition includes concise reviews of established theories, such as social cognitive theory and health belief model, as well as expanding on new developments in the field including evidence-based policy making and health impact assessment. Thoroughly revised and updated, the book maintains the accessible style suitable for public health practitioners, health promotion and health education specialists, epidemiologists and social policy makers, as well as students of public health and health promotion.
Course Textbook Edberg, M. (2015). Essentials of health behavi.docxvanesaburnand
Course Textbook
Edberg, M. (2015). Essentials of health behavior: Social and behavioral theory in public health (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
QUESTION 1
Please define the concept of a political-economic approach. What are some of its key principles? Using HIV/AIDS as an example, please address/answer the following question: What issues would a political-economic approach address in terms of potential action or actions?
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
QUESTION 2
As you are aware by now, the concept of social marketing is being widely used to influence health behavior. Please define the term social marketing and then discuss some of this concept’s key principles. Also, explain how social marketing is being used in various health promotion programs.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
QUESTION 3
The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) explains how people acquire and maintain certain behavioral patterns. Please outline some of those patterns, and explain why they occur in the first place. Also, indicate how health promotion practitioners use this theory’s principles in order to design effective behavior change interventions.
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
25 points
QUESTION 4
Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) Theory explains how, over time, an idea or product gains momentum and diffuses (or spreads) through a specific population or social system. The end result of this diffusion is that people, as part of a social system, adopt a new idea, behavior, or product. Define the term social system as it is being used in this context. Then, discuss the key aspects/elements of these three factors that influence adoption of an innovation. Please provide a couple of supporting examples applicable to each of these three factors:
1
compatibility
2
complexity, and
3
observability
Your response should be at least 200 words in length.
Unit Lesson HELP
The Importance of Theories in Health Promotion
Public health promotion programs are designed to improve health, prevent disease, and mitigate death. These programs also promote a better quality of life and advocate conditions in which people can be healthier and have a better quality of life. Successful health promotion programs are designed in such a way that they assess the fundamental cause or causes of certain health problems or unhealthy behaviors. The program then incorporates actual interventions to address the problems and behaviors linked to the public health problem. In order to do that, health promotion workers/practitioners are using various theories related to health behaviors during the various phases of planning, implementing, and evaluating a certain proposed intervention.
Theories assist the public health practitioners in understanding the nature of certain targeted health behaviors. The theories are then used to explain the dynamics of the behavior, the process of changi.
Healthy People 2020Healthy People was a call to action and an.docxpooleavelina
Healthy People 2020
Healthy People was a call to action and an attempt to set health goals for the United States for the next 10 years.
Healthy People 2000 established 3 general goals:
Increase the span of healthy life.
Reduce health disparities.
Create access to preventive services for all.
Healthy People 2010 introduced 2 general goals:
Increase quality and years of healthy life.
Eliminate health disparities.
Practical Policy for Preventive Services
The U.S. health care system faces significant challenges that clearly indicate the urgent need for reform.
There is broad evidence that Americans often do not get the care they need even though the United States spends more money per person on health care than any other nation in the world.
Preventive care is underutilized, resulting in higher spending on complex, advanced diseases.
Practical Policy for Preventive Services
Patients with chronic diseases too often do not receive proven and effective treatments such as drug therapies or self management services to help them more effectively manage their conditions.
These problems are exacerbated by a lack of coordination of care for patients with chronic diseases.
Reforming our health care delivery system to improve the quality and value of care is essential to address escalating costs, poor quality, and increasing numbers of Americans without health insurance coverage.
Why policies need to be developed?
Basic needs are not being met (e.g., People are not receiving the health care they need)
People are not being treated fairly (e.g., People with disabilities do not have access to public places)
Resources are distributed unfairly (e.g., Educational services are more limited in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty)
Why policies need to be developed?
Current policies or laws are not enforced or effective (e.g., The current laws on clean water are neither enforced nor effective)
Proposed changes in policies or laws would be harmful (e.g., A plan to eliminate flextime in a large business would reduce parents' ability to be with their children)
Existing or emerging conditions pose a threat to public health, safety, education, or well-being (e.g., New threats from terrorist activity)
Marjory Gordon’s Functional Health Patterns
Marjory Gordon was a nursing theorist and professor who created a nursing assessment theory known as Gordon's functional health patterns.
It is a method to be used by nurses in the nursing process to provide a more comprehensive nursing evaluation of the patient.
Gordon's functional health pattern includes 11 categories which is a systematic and standardized approach to data collection.
List of Functional Health Patterns
1. Health Perception – Health Management Pattern
describes client’s perceived pattern of health and well being and how health is managed.
2. Nutritional – Metabolic Pattern
describes pattern of food and fluid consumption relative to metabolic need and pattern indicators of loca ...
Want to move your career forward? Looking to build your leadership skills while helping others learn, grow, and improve their skills? Seeking someone who can guide you in achieving these goals?
You can accomplish this through a mentoring partnership. Learn more about the PMISSC Mentoring Program, where you’ll discover the incredible benefits of becoming a mentor or mentee. This program is designed to foster professional growth, enhance skills, and build a strong network within the project management community. Whether you're looking to share your expertise or seeking guidance to advance your career, the PMI Mentoring Program offers valuable opportunities for personal and professional development.
Watch this to learn:
* Overview of the PMISSC Mentoring Program: Mission, vision, and objectives.
* Benefits for Volunteer Mentors: Professional development, networking, personal satisfaction, and recognition.
* Advantages for Mentees: Career advancement, skill development, networking, and confidence building.
* Program Structure and Expectations: Mentor-mentee matching process, program phases, and time commitment.
* Success Stories and Testimonials: Inspiring examples from past participants.
* How to Get Involved: Steps to participate and resources available for support throughout the program.
Learn how you can make a difference in the project management community and take the next step in your professional journey.
About Hector Del Castillo
Hector is VP of Professional Development at the PMI Silver Spring Chapter, and CEO of Bold PM. He's a mid-market growth product executive and changemaker. He works with mid-market product-driven software executives to solve their biggest growth problems. He scales product growth, optimizes ops and builds loyal customers. He has reduced customer churn 33%, and boosted sales 47% for clients. He makes a significant impact by building and launching world-changing AI-powered products. If you're looking for an engaging and inspiring speaker to spark creativity and innovation within your organization, set up an appointment to discuss your specific needs and identify a suitable topic to inspire your audience at your next corporate conference, symposium, executive summit, or planning retreat.
About PMI Silver Spring Chapter
We are a branch of the Project Management Institute. We offer a platform for project management professionals in Silver Spring, MD, and the DC/Baltimore metro area. Monthly meetings facilitate networking, knowledge sharing, and professional development. For event details, visit pmissc.org.
This comprehensive program covers essential aspects of performance marketing, growth strategies, and tactics, such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, content marketing, social media marketing, and more
1. MARIE-CLAUDE TREMBLAY
PHD CANDIDATE (PUBLIC HEALTH)
UNIVERSITY OF MONTRÉAL
PATTAYA, AUGUST 27, 2013
Case 3: Ethics in health
promotion evaluation research
2. Who am I?
I am a Ph.D. candidate in
Public Health (Health
Promotion), at the
University of Montreal. I am
involved as a doctoral
trainee at the Public Health
Directorate for Montreal
(PHDM), which serves as the
fieldwork of my thesis. I am
also interested in complex
health promotion
interventions, reflective
practice and collaborative
evaluation methods. Marie-Claude.Tremblay.7@umontreal.ca
4. Health promotion
Health promotion is “the process of enabling
people to increase control over their health
and its determinants” (WHO, 1986, p. 2).
Encompasses a significant ideological component
based on values and principles such as:
Empowerment;
Participation;
Social justice and equity;
Intersectoral and ecological action.
5. Health promotion
Thus, health promotion interventions are inherently
value-laden and normative.
(Health is promoted as a main social concern.)
The normativity of health promotion can be
worrisome, as it can obstruct some other equally
important principles and goals.
6. Health promotion evaluation
Evaluation research involves making a judgement
about an intervention, a program or a policy based
on particular criteria and using scientific methods
(Rossi, Freeman et al. 1998).
Could evaluation position itself as an ‘ethical
watchdog’ in health promotion?
8. Two ethical issues in evaluation
1. Ethical issue no 1 results from adopting a formal
normative ethics to judge health promotion
interventions on the basis of their own criteria;
2. Ethical issue no 2 results from adopting a
procedural normative ethics by taking up health
promotion agenda and principles for conducting
the evaluation (‘health promoting evaluation’).
9. Ethical issue no 1
A traditional role of evaluation is to make a judgment about
an intervention/program, on the basis of particular criteria.
In this perspective, evaluations can play an ethical
watchdog role by assessing health promotion interventions
and their intended goals on the basis of the values and
principles of the field.
Implies a formal normative ethics, from the ‘inside’
of the field
10. Ethical issue no 1
An example:
A community health promotion program aims to
prevent type 2 diabetes and improve the health of an
Indigenous community.
An evaluation could assess the extent to which the
program respects health promotion values and
principles of participation, empowerment, social
justice, equity, ecological action…
11. Ethical issue no 1
Formal normative ethics:
Based on a normative ethics (criteria considered as
desirable by the field);
Health benefits maximisation (utilitarian ethics);
In line with some authors’ points of view that “public
health ethics is in need of a theoretical basis that is built
on the aims of the enterprise and the moral values
inherent in its practices” (Baylis, Kenny, and Sherwin, 2008, p.
206).
12. Ethical issue no 1
This point of view can be questioned:
Underlying premises of the field stay unchallenged;
“Access to debate—or standing to comment—should not
rest on the question of whether a view accords with the
perspectives, objectives, or ‘philosophy’ of public health”
(Coggon, 2010, p. 245).
Are health promotion goals, principles and values
absolute and socially consensual?
13. Ethical issue no 2
Many authors believe that health promotion evaluations
should integrate health promotion principles of action in
conducting the evaluation, such as participation,
empowerment, and concerns for social justice and equity
(Rootman et al., 2001).
Implies a procedural normative ethics (ethics of the
means), where evaluation is itself ‘health
promoting’
16. Ethical issue no 2
Procedural normative ethics:
Ethics of the means;
Implies integrating health promotion principles and values in
evaluation, by:
involving stakeholders into the evaluative process;
giving a voice to the more disadvantaged;
allowing them to develop capacities related to evaluation;
evaluating the intervention’s effects from an equity standpoint.
17. Ethical issue no 2
This point of view can also be questioned:
Integrating health promotion principles in evaluation ensure
the evaluation’s procedural ethics, but again from a normative
standpoint;
This procedural ethics can’t avoid the necessity of formal ethics
(ethical assessment of the intervention’s aims and principles).
19. Questions for reflection
Does ethics in health promotion evaluation have to
be rooted in the values and moral principles of the
field or in an overarching and socially shared
philosophy?
We can also ask what kind of evaluation is
responsible for ethics assessment in health
promotion? Is it the role of program evaluation or
should it be promoted by more specific type of
evaluation?
20. Acknowledgements
Marie-Claude Tremblay is funded by the Strategic
Training Program in Promotion, Prevention and
Public Policy (4P).
Travel to this conference is supported by 4P Training
Program, Université de Montréal (Direction des
relations internationales) and Lucie Richard.
21. References
Baylis F., Kenny N., Sherwin S. (2008). A relational account of public health
ethics. Public Health Ethics, 1(3):196–209.
Carter S.M., Cribb A., Allegrante J.P. (2012). How to think about health
promotion ethics. Public Health Reviews. 34(2012): epub ahead of print.
Coggon, J. (2010). Does Public Health Have a Personality (and If So, Does It
Matter If You Don’t Like It)? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 19,
235–248.
House, E. R., Howe, K. R. (1999). Values in evaluation and social research.
Thousand Oaks, Sage.
Rootman, I., M. Goodstat, et al. (2001). A framework for health promotion
evaluation. Evaluation in Health Promotion, Principles and Perspectives I.
Rootman, M. Goodstat, B. Hyndmanet al. Copenhague, WHO Regional
Publications, European Series: 7-33.
Rossi, P. H., H. E. Freeman, et al. (1998). Evaluation: a systematic approach.
Sixth edition. Thousand Oaks, Sage.
World Health Organization. (1986). Ottawa Charter for health promotion.
Canadian Journal of Public Health 77(6): 425-430.
Editor's Notes
I am a Ph.D. candidate in Public Health (Health Promotion), at the University of Montreal. I am involved as a doctoral trainee at the Public Health Directorate for Montreal (PHDM), which serves as the fieldwork of my thesis. I am also interested in complex health promotion interventions, reflective practice and collaborative evaluation methods. Please note that I am not an ethicist, but since I am interested in health promotion and evaluation, I have accepted to explore the topic of health promotion evaluation ethics in the context of this symposium.
The values and principles of health promotion have been stated and defined in the Ottawa Charter (1986), among others, which is still considered today as a foundational pillar of the field.
Health promotion is a specific field of action and discourse of public health, defined as “ the process of enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants” (WHO, 1986, p. 2). As such, it encompasses a significant ideological component based on values and principles of action such as empowerment, participation, social justice, equity and intersectoral/community action.
Given this important ideological component, health promotion interventions are inherently value-laden and normative, promoting health as a main social concern. Despite its commitment to a larger moral theory, the normativity of health promotion can be worrisome, as it can obstruct some other equally important principles and goals.
Evaluation research involves making a judgement about an intervention, a program or a policy based on particular criteria and using scientific methods ( Rossi, Freeman et al. 1998 ). In this perspective, evaluation could act as the ‘watchdog’ of ethical issues in health promotion, by assessing the true desirability of practices from an ethical standpoint. But this role is itself complicated by the normative nature of health promotion evaluation.
This presentation aims to explore two ethical issues in health promotion evaluation using a broad perspective of ethics, conceived as a reflexive and moral inquiry about practices (Carter, Cribb & Allegrante, 2012; Coggon, 2010).
Ethical issue no 1 results from adopting a formal normative ethics to judge health promotion interventions on the basis of their own criteria; Ethical issue no 2 results from adopting a procedural normative ethics by taking up health promotion agenda and principles for conducting the evaluation (‘health promoting evaluation’).
First, evaluations could play a judgmental role by assessing health promotion interventions and their intended goals on the basis of the values and principles of the field. In this perspective, evaluators use the criteria established as desirable by the field (i.e. promotion of health through principles of participation, empowerment, social justice, equity, etc.) to examine the purpose of a program or the extent to which the program is reaching its goal and respecting theses principles.
Take for example a health promotion program aimed at preventing type 2 diabetes and improving health in an Indigenous community. An evaluation could be done to assess the extent to which the program respects health promotion principles of participation, empowerment, social justice, equity, ecological action. For instance, is the program engaging community in the conception and implementation of the intervention? Is the program fostering capacities development in the community, so that diabetes prevention and health improvement become sustainable capacities of the individuals and the community? Is the program targeting disadvantaged people who need more than others health promotion efforts? Etc.
Evaluating health promotion interventions in this way allows for the deliberation about the desirability of an intervention from a normative ethical standpoint. (In fact, this kind of ethics judgement is based on ‘prescriptive valuing’ (used when significant value agreement exists), and allows arriving at explicit value conclusions based on substantive values (House and Howe, 1999). ) Health is the concern that is valued over others, which makes this kind of ethics also utilitarian. This kind of ethics is in accordance with some authors’ points of view, that “public health ethics is in need of a theoretical basis that is built on the aims of the enterprise and the moral values inherent in its practices” (Baylis, Kenny, and Sherwin, 2008, p. 206).
But, we could also question the legitimacy of this point of view, as the underlying premises of health promotion stay unchallenged and unquestioned with this kind of evaluation. As Coggon (2010, p. 245) noticed, “access to debate—or standing to comment—should not rest on the question of whether a view accords with the perspectives, objectives, or ‘philosophy’ of public health”. In fact, we can legitimately question if health promotion goals, principles and values are absolute and based on a whole social normativity. As said before, there are others social concerns that may be as valuable as health.
Another ethical issue of health promotion evaluation stems from the fact that, often, health promotion evaluations take up health promotion principles. In fact, many authors believe that health promotion evaluations should integrate health promotion principles of action, such as participation, empowerment, and concerns for social justice and equity (Rootman et al., 2001). From this perspective, health promotion evaluation implies a procedural normative ethics (ethics of the means) , where evaluation is itself ‘health promoting’ .
This is a table adapted from Rootman et al. book (2001), presenting the principles of action to be fostered in health promotion interventions and evaluations.
Lets take an example to concretise this : This is an example of an evaluation integrating health promotion principles of participation, empowerment, intersectorality and relevance. The example consists in the evaluation of a professional development program in health promotion. This evaluation was aiming to support and guide the program’s implementation process. Both the evaluator and the project team were mindful of integrating health promotion principles into the evaluation. In this example, the evaluation was designed in a way to include the program designer team into the evaluative process (participation) and enable reflexive processes that foster the interventionists’ ability to assimilate the knowledge produced by the evaluation (empowerment). In addition, the evaluative process was anchored in a multitude of disciplines and relied on a variety of information-gathering techniques (multidisciplinarity/intersectorality). The evaluation also took into account the complex, adaptive nature of the program (relevance).
This kind of evaluation build on procedural ethics, ensuring that the process of evaluation is itself ethical from a health promotion standpoint. Integrating health promotion principles and values in evaluation can be done by involving stakeholders into the evaluative process, giving a voice to the more disadvantaged, allowing them to develop capacities related to evaluation and evaluating the intervention’s effects from an equity standpoint.
Although this ensure the evaluation’s procedural ethics (ethics of the means – but again from a normative standpoint), it can’t avoid the necessity of ethically assess the content of the interventions.
The argument of this presentation can be synthesized as follows: because of its normative nature, health promotion needs to be ethically assessed; evaluation is often considered an opportunity to do so; but evaluation in health promotion is itself normative. In each of the cases presented, health promotion evaluation remains caught in its own normative rhetoric, either by adopting formal normative ethics to judge health promotion interventions on the basis of their own criteria or a procedural normative ethics by adopting health promotion agenda and principles for conducting the evaluation. These two issues can be conceived as resulting from a confusion about what should be a foundational framework for ethics in health promotion.
This presentation opens the door to some reflections: Does ethics in health promotion evaluation have to be rooted in the values and moral principles of the field or in an overarching and socially shared philosophy? We can also ask what kind of evaluation is responsible for ethics assessment in health promotion? Is it the role of program evaluation or should it be promoted by more specific type of evaluation?