The health promotion model of social care: Development and application in pedagogy for social care practice

Social care practitioners are often well placed to promote the health of service users, and many routinely engage in health promotion activities. However, they may not always recognise this aspect of their work and often feel poorly trained in this area. Health promotion is defined as the process of enabling people to increase control over and to improve their health. It is concerned with addressing the broader social determinants of health and reducing health inequalities. This chapter discusses the importance of having health promotion as an explicit component of a Social Care Programme. It examines a health promotion model of social care, which integrates the principles and key action areas of health promotion into social care practice. In addition to the provision of health promotion for service users, this model also incorporates health promotion for families and social care workers. The chapter also provides an overview of specific module content, both for face-to-face and online delivery, linked to a discussion of the relevance of health promotion to social care practice. Theories and methodologies used in the teaching-learning process are also addressed.