A Preferred Target Population for Comprehensive Health Promotion

Abstract

Health promotion (HP) strategies have been advocated as a means of enhancing individual responsibility for health maintenance, while reducing client dependence on the medical care system. Similarly, advocates of HP have suggested that it may positively affect medical costs and physical/behavioral risk factors among others. To properly test the long-term effects of carefully planned HP interventions, a preferred target population is proposed. It is suggested that clientele would be drawn from moderate or low risk individuals who are seldom the population-of-interest within the traditional medical care model. The authors offer a model for comprehensive HP and discuss the implications of defining a target population for HP strategies.