eprintid: 19593 rev_number: 17 userid: 2437 dir: disk0/00/01/95/93 datestamp: 2013-09-27 14:38:43 lastmod: 2016-11-15 14:14:48 status_changed: 2013-09-27 14:38:43 type: thesis_degree metadata_visibility: show contact_email: atbodea@verizon.net item_issues_count: 0 eprint_status: archive creators_name: Bodea Crisan, Alina R. creators_email: arb1@pitt.edu creators_id: ARB1 title: An Exploration of the Ideology of Health Promotion and Critical Implications for Public health ispublished: unpub divisions: sch_gsph_behavioralcommhealthsci full_text_status: public keywords: meaning of health in two types of health promotion discourse abstract: This dissertation analyzes the ideological, conceptual, and moral foundations of health promotion discourse. It highlights their implications for the field of public health and for broader socio-cultural contexts. Using a critical interpretive qualitative approach, the study employs semi-structured interviews to understand how conceptions of health promotion are articulated by a group of professional health coaches. Additionally, written and visual health communication and social marketing materials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are examined through qualitative discourse analysis. Findings from both sets of data are convergent and support the claim that, currently, the pursuit of health is mainly justified with reference to an individualistic, rationalistic and moralizing doctrine that continues to be pervasive. This translates into professional recommendations which stress individual responsibility for achieving health through discrete behavioral and lifestyle changes. iv It is argued that the dominant approach in health promotion discourse fails to integrate a coherent understanding of the structural determinants of health and does not take into account the complexity of the production of health, nor the rich phenomenology of health in daily life. The present dominant status of individualistic conceptions of health contributes to the spread of a reductive understanding of health among the citizenry. The study points to critical public health implications, including the urgent need for integrating social determinants in the pervasive professional ideology of health. As the health promotion workforce - such as health coaches - is expected to grow at a fast pace in the near future, it is imperative that a more comprehensive conception of health production be incorporated into the training of health promotion and of health professionals, generally. Additionally, efforts should be made so that the social determinants of health become integrated into public debate, public policy agendas, and health communication. This analysis favored depth over scope. The main limitation of the study is the small number of interviews with health coaches from a single organization. Additional empirical studies are needed to include other health promotion and health care groups as well as lay participants, and to integrate a comparative perspective into the analysis. date: 2013-09-27 date_type: published pages: 248 institution: University of Pittsburgh refereed: TRUE etdcommittee_type: committee_chair etdcommittee_type: committee_member etdcommittee_type: committee_member etdcommittee_type: committee_member etdcommittee_type: committee_member etdcommittee_name: Albert, Steven etdcommittee_name: Documet, Patricia etdcommittee_name: Marx, John etdcommittee_name: Terry, Martha Ann etdcommittee_name: Thompson, Kenneth etdcommittee_email: smalbert@pitt.edu etdcommittee_email: pdocumet@pitt.edu etdcommittee_email: jmarx@pitt.edu etdcommittee_email: materry@pitt.edu etdcommittee_email: visiblehands@mac.com etdcommittee_id: SMALBERT etdcommittee_id: PDOCUMET etdcommittee_id: JMARX etdcommittee_id: MATERRY etdcommittee_id: etd_defense_date: 2013-07-19 etd_approval_date: 2013-09-27 etd_submission_date: 2013-08-09 etd_release_date: 2013-09-27 etd_access_restriction: 2_year etd_patent_pending: FALSE thesis_type: dissertation degree: DrPH citation: Bodea Crisan, Alina R. (2013) An Exploration of the Ideology of Health Promotion and Critical Implications for Public health. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished) document_url: http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/19593/1/Bodea_A_ETD_2013.pdf