Topic > The ecological perspective for health promotion and behavior change interventions

The ecological perspective is central to the advancement of health promotion. Using this concept involves designing multifaceted, multilevel health interventions that operate using mixed methods – far from simply providing health education to individuals. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Essentially, the ecological perspective evaluates health and behavior based on two key constructs: (1) the effect of behavior across multiple levels of influence (e.g., intrapersonal, interpersonal, and community levels) and, vice versa, of these levels on behavior; and (2) mutual causality between people and their social environment. Integrating both of these constructs into a single overarching innovation is a strategy used in the most effective health promotion and behavior change interventions. This strategy is implemented in Healthy Balangueno 2020, an initiative that uses both Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and Participatory Action Theory (TPA). Both SCT and TPA are known to support the development of peer education. SCT works at the interpersonal level using the social environment as a behavioral model, while TPA works at the community level and has an empowerment component. Social Cognitive Theory Developed by Albert Bandura, social cognitive theory revolves around the basic premise that people acquire and maintain certain behavioral patterns dependent on the mutual interaction between the following factors: (1) individual experiences, (2) actions of others, and (3) environment. SCT is an advanced version of Social Learning Theory (SLT), proposed by Neal Miller and John Dollard in 1941. In SLT, it is postulated that an individual's learnings are obtained not only through his or her lived experiences, but also through the observation of other people's actions and the benefits of those actions. In 1977 Bandura expanded SLT by introducing the concept of self-efficacy. He then renamed it Social Cognitive Theory. A distinctive feature of SCT is that it operates at an interpersonal level, meaning that it places emphasis on the influence of a social environment, which is composed of the individual's family members, co-workers, peers, and healthcare professionals. This theory recognizes that the social environment impacts behavior and therefore impacts health. Since its proposal, SCT has been used in health communication as it organizes opportunities for social support through self-efficacy, goals, outcome expectations, using observational learning and other reinforcements, all with the goal of achieving a change in behavior. The adoption of new behaviors will cause a wave of change in both the environment and the person. Bandura recognizes that "behavior is not simply the result of the environment and the person, just as the environment is not simply the result of the person and behavior." Constructs from the cognitive, behaviorist, and emotional models of behavior change are assimilated to form the SCT. Central concepts of this theory include: mutual determinism, behavioral capacity, expectations, observational learning or modeling, reinforcements, and self-efficacy. Reciprocal determinism refers to the reciprocity between personal factors, environmental factors, and human behavior; each has an influence on the other components. A strategy is the implementation of a variety of ways to promote behavior change, such as adapting the environment or influencing personal attitudes. HealthyBalangueno 2020 employs this concept by using a mixed method approach in youth education, such as lecture-discussion, small group discussions, role-playing, drills/games, hands-on exercises, and hands-on sessions so as to maximize learning. This tactic is believed to create a learning environment suitable for teenagers. Behavioral ability describes the process by which knowledge of a behavior precedes competence in performing the behavior. To promote learning mastery, Healthy Balangueno 2020 conducts participatory teaching-learning methods. The goal is to have participants equipped with knowledge on various health topics. Observational learning is a learning process that occurs when a person examines the actions of credible role models. The Healthy Balangueno 2020 initiative plans to create a group of youth leaders who can share knowledge and provide emotional, social and informational support to their peers. Expectations are the end results that a person expects will occur after taking action. Setting expectations involves demonstrating the positive results of healthy behavior. In the context of Healthy Balangueno 2020, this is achieved by providing adolescents with knowledge that will improve health-seeking behavior in the city of Balanga. Self-efficacy, or a sense of personal agency, drives a person to persist in behavior change despite obstacles in the context. process. This is the concept identified by Bandura as the primary personal factor in behavioral change. As a strategy, behavioral change is approached through a gradual process to ensure success. One application of this theory is conducting participatory teaching-learning methods that will ultimately result in behavior change involving utilization of health services, adaptation of healthy lifestyle behaviors, avoidance of risky behaviors (e.g. smoking, alcohol use, drug abuse and more). risky sexual behaviors) and participation in the development of a healthy community. Reinforcements are positive or negative responses to an individual's behavior. Positive reinforcers promote the likelihood of repetition, while negative reinforcers push a person to remove a negative stimulus. This construct is not used in Healthy Balangueno 2020, but may be incorporated into future activities after the youth leaders organization is created. Positive reinforcements can take the form of incentives such as extra points in the extracurricular component of the evaluation system, monetary rewards or medals/distinctions. Participatory Action Theory The integration of participation, research and community action has given rise to the collaborative inquiry process called Participatory Action Research (PAR). This is an unorthodox research method that involves using local insights and skills in solving community problems, through cooperative inquiry between the researcher and the community. In essence, PAR was “research done with and for people rather than about people.” Participatory action research is based on theoretical constructs of community organization, specifically: (1) empowerment and (2) participation. PAR is particularly inspired by the works of Brazilian educator Paolo Freire, who saw education as a means of changing power relations. The emphasis is on the involvement and empowerment of the marginalized. Empowerment is an essential tactic by which people gain control over their lives by participating in their community, driven by the goal of changing their social and political reality. It's a.