1-29
ON CHANGING HABITS AND ATTITUDES
Many experts now tell us that the principal goal of health education should be to
change people’s habits and attitudes.
Unfortunately, such a goal points the finger at what people do wrong, rather
than building on what they do right It is based on the paternalistic view that the
‘ignorance’ of poor people is the main cause of their ill health, and that it is society’s
job to correct their bad habits and attitudes.
A people-centered approach to health education takes the opposite position. It
recognizes that the ill health of the poor is, in large part, the result of a social order
that favors the strong at the expense of the weak. Its main goal is not to change
the poor, but to help them gain the understanding and skills needed to change the
conditions that cause poverty and poor health.
THE AIMS OF HEALTH EDUCATION
BEHAVIOR CHANGE or SOCIAL CHANGE
In education that focuses on behavior and
attitude change, people are acted upon by
the system and the world that surrounds
them.
In education that works for social change,
people act upon the system and the world
that surrounds them.
In making these points, we are not saying that there is no need for changes in
personal attitudes and behavior. But whose attitudes need changing the most?
Whose attitudes and habits cause more human suffering—those of the poor or
those of the ‘well-educated’ dominating classes?
The unhealthy behavior of both rich and poor results partly from the unfair social
situation in which we live. So rather than trying to reform people, health education
needs to focus on helping people learn how to change their situation.
As people become more sure of themselves and their capacity for effective
action, their attitudes and behavior may change. But lasting changes will come from
inside, from the people themselves.