Health promotion: Disciplines and diversity

This book on health promotion attempts to trace the disciplinary roots of the subject. With many practical examples of applied theory, it relates the theoretical with the practical to form a reference for academics and practitioners alike. In terms of theoretical development, health promotion is at a crossroads. Over the last 20 years or so, it has emerged from its roots in public health and health education to become a central force in the "new" public health movement. This has been accompanied by a proliferation on papers concerned with research, theory and the discipline of health promotion, such that it now demands to be recognised as an emerging and discrete discipline. This book debates whether it has yet reached a stage of independence from its disiplinary roots or if it is, in fact, still a product of a multi-disciplinary base. Contributions from experts in the fields of psychology, sociology, education and epidemiology, the primary feeder disciplines, explain how concepts and theories from these acedemic fields have helped to shape health promotion theory.