Health Promotion

Full course description

It seems that many of today’s health issues do not go away. They even worsen over time. One could wonder why certain health problems are so resilient against change. These problems are referred to as ‘wicked’. They contrasted theseproblems with ‘tame’ problems. Tame problems can be dealt with in a linear fashion: gather data, analyze data, formulate solution, implement solution. Although tame problems may be quite complex, solutions can be found by known techniques and it is clear when a solution has been reached. In other words, tame problems are as puzzles: there is a solution and they can be or might already have been solved. Unfortunately, many of today’s problems are not tame, but ‘wicked’. Examples are addiction, drug and alcohol abuse, overweight, stress-related burnout, depression and suicide, STD, and most chronic diseases. To solve such wicked problems, the traditional problem-solving approach does not work. Reasons for this are that wicked problems change over time and culture, are multifaceted, and have no straightforward solutions. Wicked health issues need to be tackled within a ‘new’ ‘health promotion’ framework that considers the social, political,The aim of this module is to acquire knowledge and skills on processes and strategies enabling people to increase control over, and improve their health (= health promotion), in a broader context. Students are required to integrate knowledge acquired in this and previous modules by developing a comprehensive strategic plan aimed at promoting health on a particular issue, setting or community, with a large focus on international settings and communities. For this they will work on a wicked health problem of choice in a small project group with frequent supervision with a coach and interactive exchanges with fellow students (= Part 1). In addition, for students in this master programme, it is important to become able debaters promoting their views and plans to different audiences. To shape these skills, they prepare for and engage in a debate in what is called ‘the argument game’, in which they defend a position in favour of a specific public health approach (= Part 2). Finally, in this course reflection on the meaning, impact and boundaries of health promotion interventions is highlighted and is started by a discussion of Juli Zeh’s novel ‘Corpus Delicti’. The discussion is furthered by critical reading and lectures of several articles on ethical issues such as social equity, state control, self-regulation, public-private partnership, individual autonomy, and stigmatization (= Part 3). and ethical values in society.