Health promotion: its terminology, concepts, and modes of practice

With health care costs raging out of control, a search for ways to decrease them is emerging. The terms self-care, wholistic health care, prevention, and high level wellness are becoming popular. The terms and their modes of practice are incorrectly intermingled, creating much confusion among consumers and health care practitioners. This article examines the differences between them in relation to concepts and practice as well as in relation to the healthy and chronically ill. The dilemmas facing health promotion are examined. Problems such as the media, ethics, laws, funding, and research are reviewed. Consumerism and consumer responsibility versus the health care provider's responsibility are explored. Health promotion is a viable concept and method of health care practice for the consumer as well as the health care care practitioner.