Health services - Center for Health Promotion Research
Health promotion in the health services
Health promotion is often associated with public health and strategies to help the healthy people stay healthy. However, more people survive former lethal diseases, often with long-term side-effects from the disease or the medical treatment, and a growing number of people are diagnosed with a chronic condition. Promoting health should therefore be regarded as a reasonable strategy, also for the many defined as ill. Since health comprises all aspects of life (physical, psychological, social and existential aspects), health promotion should be directed towards actualizing the health potential in all these aspects, whether a person is healthy or ill.
The health services must be re-oriented to move increasingly in a health promotion direction, beyond their responsibility for providing only clinical and curative services. Recently, new White Papers have been passed in Norway to ensure more attention to health promotion, also in the health services. Patients will be transferred earlier from specialized hospitals to health services in municipalities, where the main focus will be on health (despite the disease), health promotion in a broad sense, resources, coping, functioning, and quality of life. The Center for Health Promotion is involved in several research projects on health promotion in the health services.