RHP&EO is the electronic journal of the International
Union for Health Promotion and Education
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From Vintage to Virtual - A Selection of Five Resources That Made Their Mark on Health Education and Promotionby Diane Levin, MPH, CHES Director, Department of Health Education and Promotion, Clalit Health Services, Israel Levin, D., From Vintage to Virtual - A Selection of Five Resources That Made Their Mark on Health Education and Promotion, Reviews of Health Promotion and Education Online, 2002. URL: reviews/2002/4/index.htm. The challenge of selecting five publications that have had the greatest personal influence on me professionally is certainly overwhelming. The wealth of literature has been a guiding light for professionals in Israel, as for so many years, academic and professional learning came ostensibly from the literature as well as from the visits of distinguished guests in the field of health promotion. On a personal note, my work demands that I function in parallel as a practitioner, policy maker, academic, consultant, advocate and teacher. I therefore have chosen those publications that empowered me over the years, to help others understand the health promotion message and how they can incorporate it into their daily doings - either in teaching, treating, policy making or in creating opportunities for people to sense the significance in investing in quality of life. The publications chosen are both theoretical and practical, focusing on the areas of defining health, implementing personal change, evaluation and evidence for effectiveness, as well as health literacy. Defining Health: A Multidimensional ModelOne of the greatest challenges that I have faced is framing the issue of health in such a way that it encompasses the aspects that give meaning to the individual or to society, or the "reason why" the individual, or the collective, would invest in their health. Yet this challenge includes defining health in terms concrete enough to be able to communicate the health message. The Multidimensional Model of Health, proposed by Eberst (1983) using the "Rubik Cube" model of health, incorporated the physical, social, emotional, mental, spiritual and vocational aspects of health. This is described via the use of an elegant metaphor - the cube that has literally millions of combinations, as does health, - even before mentioning the "perfect" combination one that is rarely, if ever,achieved as is the case of the concept of health. This, for me, was one of the landmark articles that introduced the synergy between the various aspects of health, while setting the stage for the systemic view of health promotion which was introduced via the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion just a few years later. Change ModelsThe book entitled Changing for Good, written by Prochaska, Norcrosse and DiClemente (1995) based on their Transtheoretical Model for Change, has offered a concrete way in which those who are interested in initiating change and need to convince others to complete the change, may plan, carry out and maintain it effectively. The model of Stages of Change, delineated in the book in such a way as to convince both health professionals and the lay public, allows for a humanistic approach to understanding why people will take action to improve their lives and why others will not yet be ready to do so. Most importantly, the model offers hope and a map for navigating towards progress in health behavior, thus making it a priority. It has enabled many of us in our work to give a clear, rational, and positive take-home messageto health professionals, desperate to improve their effectiveness in understanding how to reframe their efforts in motivating themselves and others. While using the model in its analogous form, it has also offered new ways of approaching organizational change as well. Promoting Effective Health PromotionThe constant contact with policy makers, demanding that health promotion provides both tested evaluation tools and scientifically based health promotion strategies, brings me to cite two special publications of significant influence. Firstly, The Report of the WHO European Working Group on Health Promotion Evaluation entitled Health Promotion Evaluation: Recommendations to Policymakers (WHO, 1995) offers concrete steps that are recommended for use in evaluation planning. The document has proved useful for creating valuable dialogue with both practionners and policy makers by using the conclusions and recommendations it articulated. It is joined by the Jakarta Declaration and The Verona Challenge, all of WHO initiative, in looking systemically at social change for health promotion and development. Secondly, I would like to cite The Evidence of Health Promotion Effectiveness - Shaping Public Health in a New Europe (IUHPE, 2000) initiated and published by the International Union of Health Promotion and Education. This report's contribution is an effort made to define the full spectrum including political, social, economic and health impacts, through an elegant analysis of evidence flowing from a generation of investment in health promotion. The range of topics analyzed include aging, mental health, youth health, heart disease tobacco and other substances, safety, workers health, school health, health promotion in the health care sector, oral health as well as equity. Health Promotion On-LineOne of the most valuable resources that I have discovered is absurdly, one of the most basic ones - that of interpersonal exchanges and networking regarding ideas, needs, available resources and solution of dilemmas. The coming of the internet has allowed for this to happen in a dramatically increased manner, and I have been enriched by a number of dynamic discussion groups, to which dedicated and experienced professionals are willing to contribute generously. One discussion group in particular deserves mention, namely the Health Literacy Discussion Group. Although the discussion group has yet to tap the possibilities of global participation and is still focused mainly on issues of health literacy that are dealt with by professionals in the Western world, the extent of contributions is quite impressive, as is the willingness of the participants to give advice as well as provide information on new developments in the field. Although the discussion focuses mainly on functional health literacy of the health literacy typology (Nutbeam, 2001), it is a professional resource which supports and encourages health promotion not only addressing the privileged elite, but grapples with ways that health messages can reach, and be relevant even to, the most disenfranchised groups. What is particularly special about this type of electronic discussion group is that it has allowed us to rediscover, in the 21st century, the human exchange that promotes effective initiatives, now among colleagues who may never meet face-to-face. ConclusionsThe resources that have been presented here have come from different categories of media - articles, books, reports, charters and resources on line focusing on personal discourse. The task of choosing one's favorite resources is a meaningful, even if a difficult one, and I encourage all professionals to make their own choices as well, taking the opportunity to pause and reflect over the highlights of their personal journey in the health promotion kingdom. And if you feel inclined to, if you are a IUHPE member, why not share it with us through this electronic journal ? References
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