UNIT 17: HEALTH PROMOTION

The health landscape is no longer just health care and today also includes other aspects such as prevention, promotion, rehabilitation and education.

The preservation of health and functional independence are the most important aspects of the promotion of health in older adults.

Prevention must be directed toward three aspects:

• The education of the general population on the recognition of the risk factors and necessary education for their correction.
• The recognition of high-risk groups.
• Prevention in people with known illnesses.

The health education means a new approach in healthcare, in the understanding of the health process and goals to achieve. It is an educational process aimed primarily to enhance, promote and educate those factors that directly affect the population in general and the older citizen in particular.

The health education, as a tool for the promotion of health, will have to deal with creating learning opportunities to facilitate behavioral changes or healthy lifestyles.

This means an overcoming of traditional paper that has been attributed to the health education, limited primarily to change the behaviour of individuals on risk, becoming a powerful instrument for the community.

To conclude, I consider that the nurse has an important role in society, being qualified to promote healthy lifestyle in order to prevent diseases in different areas.

Bibliography

• Comisión de ancianidad. Revista argentina de cardiología. [revista en internet]. 2001 [25 de abril del 2013]; 69. Disponible en: http://www.sac.org.ar/files/files/comisiondeancianidad.pdf