Social-Ecological Model
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Social-Ecological Model
In the past 20- years, there has been a rise in the societal interest in preventing deaths as well as disabilities in the United States of America. This has been done through the act of reducing the behaviors that have been linked to an increase in chronic diseases. However, these proponents have claimed that people behave the way they want, and they should be blamed for their actions. The ideology has mainly been a form of legitimization for the entrenchment of people’s rights as well as entitlements. The diseases have also been linked to people’s social lives. In the modern world, People often go out with their friends, and they eat unhealthy foods such as Pizza and Fries. This may be the reason why there has been a rise in chronic diseases among people. The ideology of human responsibility has inhibited the fact that people need to be understanding instead of them having unrealistic behavioral models. Asides from that, environmental factors have also been described as relevant. The environment that people live in must have total control of their health. An ecological perspective could bring about attention to the individual and environmental determinants of people’s behavior. Urie Bronfenbrenner proposed the perspective, and he looks at the different levels of influence f a behavior, what affects it, and how the individual is affected.
In addition to that, the public health model can also be seen as an ecological model. An example of a public health model is a host- agent environment model. The public health model is mainly based on education and welfare. The model attempts to prevent or even reduce disease and even a social problem within a population. It works by identifying the risk indicators. Nonetheless, the main condition affecting the people, in this case, is the rise of chronic diseases among the people. Most of the people today have changed their lifestyles, and they eat anything even without knowing the importance of the food they are taking. The people have been obese, which has been a risk factor for such diseases. People must use the ecological model to prevent more people from getting these conditions. The model will help people understand the does and don’ts when it comes to their health.
Nevertheless, the ecological perspective of health has been a useful framework that helps people understand the different range of factors that influence health and wellbeing if an individual. The model helps in the provision of a complete perspective of the factors affecting specific health behaviors, such as social health determinants. The ecological model looks at different levels of influence. They include the intrapersonal factors that include knowledge, and beliefs and the interpersonal factors that help provide social support to the individuals. Other levels of influence include the o institutional as well as organizational factors that entail the policies, regulations, and rules and the community factors that include the informal and formal social norms. Finally, public policy factors also include the local state and even federal policies. I feel that this perspective could be useful in the prevention of chronic diseases since the people understand the different attitudes on these diseases, the knowledge they should have band even the different beliefs.
References
E- Source: behavioral & Social Sciences Research. (n.d.). Social and Behavioral Theories.
McLeroy, K. R., Bibeau, D., Steckler, A., & Glanz, K. (1988). An ecological perspective on health promotion programs. Health Education Quarterly, 15(4), 351-377. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019818801500401