In this paper two fears about health promotion are identified. The first concerns the ability to choose between proliferating expert advice, and the second concerns the fear of government interference in personal life. The paper goes on to outline the current place of health promotion in British health policy, and to discuss the relevance of recent research on health beliefs. The paper argues that work on ‘lay epidemiology’ has been overlooked by both critics and supporters of health promotion. From this (...) vantage point the fears about health promotion can be seen to be exaggerated. (shrink)

This paper shows how one major area of health education work (smoking cessation) involves powerful, but currently largely implicit, philosophies of action. The analysis draws on empirical data derived from a previous study of would-be non-smokers' private explanations for their success or failure. Will-power, or the lack of it, emerged as a central theme in this study—a theme equally prevalent in almost all ‘How to Stop Smoking’ books and related health education pamphlets. The nature of will-power has long been discussed (...) by philosophers. However, will-power remains largely undefined and unresearched in health education. The would-be non-smokers also claimed to feel that they were making inauthentic or non-genuine choices (a theme which has also been the subject of philosophical analysis). If health educators were to develop a deeper understanding of will-power and authenticity (and were to appreciate that these ideas are complex rather than simple) this might have a considerable effect on the design of practical health education initiatives. (shrink)