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New book suggests ways of tackling society’s health challenges
‘Health Promotion: Planning and Strategies’, written by Professor Jackie Green, Professor Keith Tones, Dr Ruth Cross and Dr James Woodall, is now in its third edition, providing theoretical principles and practical information on planning successful health promotion programmes across the world.
Drawing on real-life examples of programmes delivered internationally, several of which have been written by graduates of Leeds Beckett University, the book is a comprehensive guide to current health promotion practice and how this can be used to make positive changes in our communities.
Case studies include a programme to prevent bullying in primary schools in Australia; improving the health of women in prison in Canada; a sexual health programme in El Salvador; community-based health planning in Ghana; the use of lay health workers in the community in both the Gambia and the UK; and a breast cancer education programme for newly-diagnosed patients in the United Arab Emirates.
Dr James Woodall, Reader in Health Promotion at Leeds Beckett and co-author of the book, explained: “Health promotion means lots of things to different people, but it is about creating conditions that are supportive of health. The modern health challenges faced by society, like climate change, obesity, poverty and deprivation require action not just at an individual level, but at an environmental and societal level too. This book, underpinned by the principles and values of health promotion, provides a framework that allows these issues to be tackled.”
Dr Ruth Cross, Senior Lecturer in Health Promotion and co-author, added: “One of the most rewarding things about working on the third edition was collaborating with different people from other parts of the world, including some graduates of our MSc courses, who produced case studies for the companion website”.
The book focuses on the importance of the relationship between health policy and education, and how this encourages social change and individual choice. Central to its themes is also the idea of ‘evidence’ in terms of evaluating the success of health promotion programmes and increasing their effectiveness.
In this new edition, a website is available to assist students and lecturers with seminar questions, case studies, and links to relevant journal articles and web links for each chapter of the book. This can be found at https://study.sagepub.com/greentones.
Dr Ruth Cross and Dr James Woodall are both members of the health promotion team at Leeds Beckett. They are involved in delivering postgraduate education to learners both in the UK, and also overseas in Zambia and Ghana and through distance learning provision. Ruth is the course leader for overseas courses in Zambia and Ghana and is also involved in research and teaching in the UK. James is the co-director of the Centre for Health Promotion Research, which was established in 1997 and has a broad and integrated programme of health promotion research addressing local, national and international issues. Jackie Green and Keith Tones are both Emeritus Professors of Leeds Beckett University.
Leeds Beckett has one copy of the book to give away. To win simply email pressoffice@leedsbeckett.ac.uk with ‘Health Promotion book’ as the title. Closing date Monday 7 December.