A Model to Describe the Role of Health Promotion in Creating Healthy Communities

Health promotion theory and practice is grounded in the belief that health is far more than the absence of disease. In order to influence most effectively the health of communities, Community Health Centres must balance their attention and resources amongst medical, lifestyle/behavioural, and socioenvironmental approaches to health promotion. This discussion will include an overview of these approaches to health promotion based on current literature. Community Health Centres need to incorporate a variety of complementary health promotion approaches into their core services and activities. An analysis of one model, which integrates health promotion and population health, is provided with a discussion of its application in creating healthy communities.