Transformation for health: a framework for conceptualizing health behaviors in vulnerable populations

Shedding light on the factors and circumstances that operate to bring about marginalization of groups can facilitate appropriate responses to the issue of health disparities among vulnerable groups in society. This is showing to be a seemingly intractable problem; however, it may well be that the approaches currently used to respond to the issues are not appropriate because we overlook the "realties" that really matter: those emanating from the people being visited by these circumstances themselves. Under normal conditions, human behavior can only be controlled by the individual. Facilitating an environment in which an individual can comprehend his or her internal and external realities is the first step toward transformative behavior.