Philosophy

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Philosophy
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What is a philosophy?

• Statement summarizing the attitudes,
  principles, beliefs, values, and concepts held by
  an individual or group.
• Individual philosophy statement
• Group mission statement

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Slogans / Tag Lines

• We bring good things to life
• General Electric
• Quality is job 1
• Ford Motor Co.
• Reach out and touch someone.
• ATT

• We try harder
• Avis Rental Car
• Be all that you can be
• United States Army
• Helping to make your life easier.
• Albertsons

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Tomasso's Pizza Subs 1229 West Palmetto
Park Road Boca Raton, FL

• Mission StatementWe are Committed to using the
  finest ingredients in our recipes. No food leaves
  our kitchen that we ourselves would not eat.

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Nyack Hospital 160 North Midland Avenue Nyack,
NY 10960

• Slogan / MottoExceptional skill. Extraordinary
  care.
• Mission StatementThe mission of Nyack Hospital
  is to provide competent, innovative, and
  accessible emergency and acute care services for
  the residents of Rockland County. We are caring
  people operating an extraordinary community
  hospital. Vision. In its second century of
  service, Nyack Hospital and New York-Presbyterian
  Healthcare System will set the pace for
  sophisticated care in Rockland County. Getting
  better means all of us will be responsible for
  taking great care of our patients, each other,
  and our hospital.

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Mission Statements

• Western Oregon University is a comprehensive
  university that creates personalized learning
  opportunities, supports the advancement of
  knowledge for the public good and maximizes
  individual and professional development. Our
  environment is open to the exchange of ideas,
  where discovery, creativity and critical thinking
  flourish, and students succeed.

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SOPHE (Society of Public Health Educators)

• to provide leadership to the profession of
  public health education and to contribute to the
  health of all people and the elimination of
  disparities through advances in health education
  theory and research, excellence in professional
  preparation and practice, and advocacy for public
  policies conducive to health.

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What is your philosophy?

• Complete the following
• I believe education
• I believe schools
• I believe educators
• I believe communities
• I believe governments
• Do you have a particular life philosophy?

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Philosophy

• The way in which you consistently act toward
  other people is often a reflection of your
  philosophy concerning the importance of people in
  general.
• The profession of Health Education is considered
  a helping profession.
• Those who work in the profession should value
  helping others.

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Developing a philosophy

• Education or study
• Life experience
• Guidance from mentors and role models
• Lessons from friends and relatives

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Personal versus Professional

• Ideal ones personal philosophy and
  professional philosophy were perfectly matched
  and consistent.
• What happens if ones personal and professional
  philosophies dont match up?
• Are health educators ever called upon to act in
  ways that may not be congruent with their
  personal belief systems?

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Professional Philosophy and Health Education

• Health educators primary concern is to protect
  and enhance the health of those within their
  jurisdiction.
• Health is not a moral issue.
• Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop

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Potential Challenges

• Sexuality Education
• Abortion
• Harm Reduction Methods
• Others?

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Harm Reduction

• Harm reduction is a philosophy of public health
  intended to be a progressive alternative to the
  prohibition of certain potentially dangerous
  lifestyle choices in society.
• The central idea of harm reduction is the
  recognition that some people always have and
  always will engage in behaviors which carry
  risks, such as causal sex, prostitution, and drug
  use.
• The main objective of harm reduction is to
  mitigate the potential dangers and health risks
  associated with the risky behaviors themselves.

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• Needle exchange is one of the most effective AIDS
  prevention programs currently available for
  injection drug users who are not in treatment.
  Without a vaccine or a cure, prevention is the
  only tool we have to control the spread of HIV.
  Public Health runs a needle exchange program for
  four basic reasons
• Needle exchange reduces blood-borne diseases in
  our communities without increasing drug use.
  Studies have shown decreases in both the number
  of persons who become infected with HIV and the
  number of people who get hepatitis in communities
  that have needle exchange programs.
• Preventing HIV infection in injection drug users
  also prevents HIV in women and newborn children.
  Many women are at risk for HIV because of their
  own injection drug use or because they are sexual
  partners of injection drug users.
• By working with injection drug users, we can help
  them get into drug treatment.
• Finally, Public Health safely disposes of all
  contaminated syringes turned in to the exchange.
  This reduces the number of discarded syringes on
  our sidewalks and in our bus stops, yards, parks
  and play grounds. Our goal is to get used
  syringes out of circulation as quickly as
  possible. The longer a syringe remains in
  circulation, the more opportunities there are for
  that syringe to pass on a blood-borne disease.

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Philosophy of Symmetry

• Health has physical, emotional, spiritual, and
  social components and each is as important as the
  other.
• Health educators should seek to encourage a
  balance (symmetry) among those components when
  working with all people.
• Holistic perspective, humanism, wellness.

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Case Study

• Ann is a normal weight, 40 year-old mother of
  two. She smokes a pack of cigarettes a day, does
  not exercise regularly, and has a family history
  of heart disease.
• Ann is enrolled in a required health education
  course at the local university. She is returning
  to school to become an elementary education
  teacher.
• As part of the health course, Ann is required to
  complete a health risk appraisal and review her
  assessment with you.. The health educator.

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Predominate Health Education Philosophies

• Behavior Change Philosophy
• Focuses on modifying unhealthy habits
• Examples Behavioral contracts, goal setting,
  self-monitoring.

• Cognitive-Based Philosophy
• Focus on content and information, increase in
  knowledge to help in making decisions.

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More Philosophies

• Decision-making philosophy
• Simulated problems, case studies, scenarios,
  create and analyze potential solutions, critical
  thinking skills developed.

• Freeing/Functioning Philosophy
• Goal is to free people to make the best health
  decisions based on their needs and interests, not
  necessarily on the interests of society.

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Philosophies continued

• Eclectic Health Education Philosophy
• Situational approach

• Social Change Philosophy
• Emphasizes the role of health education in
  creating social, economic, and political change
  that benefit all.

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Thoughts on Helping Professions

• Salaries and advancement
• Scheduling, hours worked per week
• Mental, emotional impact of work
• Work settings

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Stress and Burnout

• Stress
• Characterized by overengagement
• Emotions are overactive
• Produces urgency and hyperactivity
• Loss of energy
• Leads to anxiety disorders
• Primary damage is physical

• Burnout
• Characterized by disengagement
• Emotions are blunted
• Produces helplessness hopelessness
• Loss of motivation, ideals, hope
• Leads to detachment depression
• Primary damage is emotional