Health Promotion for the Community Advocate

The aim of this capstone is to review social and behavioral factors relevant to health promotion for obesity and chronic diseases in impoverished communities. Obesity and chronic diseases have displaced infectious diseases as the most immediate threat to morbidity and mortality in the United States. As a product of a sedentary lifestyle and a diet of overabundance, obesity and chronic diseases have evaded sustainable medical treatment to date. The social determinants of health contribute to disparities in the burden of chronic disease. Public health promotion may provide a methodology and precedent for eliminating health disparities. The focus on health outcomes in recent health reforms may prompt health professionals to examine the role of community advocacy in health promotion in impoverished communities. In this capstone, I provide a review of relevant literature from epidemiology and the social and behavioral sciences relevant to health promotion to reduce the burden of chronic diseases in impoverished communities. I begin with a tailored review of obesity and its ramifications. Then I discuss theoretical foundations and precedents for successful community-based public health promotion. I introduce the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model as a useful framework for health program planning. I address disparities in impoverished communities specifically in the context of barriers to success of initiatives. A guided case study illustrates the way that concentrated poverty contributes to the production of health disparities. Finally, I integrate obesity and chronic disease health promotion in impoverished communities through a guided case study of the use of the PRECEDE-PROCEED model for a childhood obesity initiative by a health professional.