[Health wishes and health reality--psychological, social and community aspects of health behaviour].
The question which determinants have the strongest influence on health, may be answered easily: social determinants like education, income, workplace. But it is not so clear whether social factors with or without a psychological mediation influence the health status. Within the topic of health psychology, models are discussed which should explain whether psychological variables determine health behaviour. The background for these models is the ideal of the civil subject who was formulated by the philosophy of enlightenment. Health is not only a question of nature, it is also influenced by the social status. The representatives of the higher social classes assess health as a positive value. In the lower social classes, health is not so important. The representatives of the higher social classes attempt to impose their ideas of health on the people of the lower classes. Health becomes a duty. People who seem to damage their health, like smokers or obese people, are stigmatised because it seems to be as if they injure important values of the western civilisation. Within health promoA-tion, more or less explicitly health is perceived as a duty, without reflecting that health as a duty may provoke the opposite result. If health may in part be recognised as an individual choice, then this choice should be respected. It is not only an element of individual freedom but also the first step to health promotion.
Klotter
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HS Fulda Fachbereich Oecotrophologie. christoph.klotter@he.hs-fulda.de
D003657:Decision Making; D005858:Germany; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D026706:Paternalism; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011287:Prejudice; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology; D012923:Social Class; D012941:Social Responsibility; D012945:Social Values