What are the goals of health promotion and the most apropriate means of achieving them? The prevailing view is that these goals are to prolong life and reduce mortality rates. Since the leading causes of morbidity and mortality are now largely attributable to lifestyle behaviors--smoking, diet, exercise, etc.--the means of achieving reductions in heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes and other chronic conditins are to identify more effective techniques for changing people's behavior. Virtually all health promotion research is currently directed towards accomplishing this objective. But at what cost? As researchers strive for more effective ways to change people's behavior, what are the implications for individual autonomy, integrity, and responsibility? Buchanan sets out to explain why a science of health promotion is neither imminent or estimable. He argues that health promotin is inescapably a moral and political endeavor and that goals more befitting the realization of human well-being are to promote self-knowledge, individual autonomy, integrity, and responsibility through putting into practice more democratic processes of self-direction and mutual support in civil society.

1. Disquietudes 2. Contemporary Threats to Health 3. The Limits of Science 4. Latrogenesis in Health Promotion 5. Practical Reason 6. Health and Well-Being 7. Civility, Trust, and Community Well-Being 8. A New Way of Practice 9. Justice, Caring, Respinsibility

David R. BuchananAssociate Professor of Community Health Studies, University of Massachusetts, School of Public Health and Health Sciences

"Personally, I enjoyed an eloquently presented discussion of the limitations of current behavioral theories that are used to guide health promotion practice. These theories were developed using very specific targeted outcomes for change, and may not be appropriate for changing behavior of populations of people without addressing critical human values that, in turn, impact society. This is a thoughtful and provocative book." --Doody's |k No