Values and Health Education: a critique of individualism

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Abstract
Contemporary health education and promotion programmes are criticised for their confused and equivocal value positions. Where any recognisably distinct moral stance is discernible in current approaches, this is typically supported by an appeal to some form of individualistic ethics which has its roots in the traditional medical model of health and illness. It is argued that value‐neutral and information based strategies should be replaced by programmes with clearly articulated and rationally supported value foundations. The hidden curriculum of individualism in health education is attacked on the grounds that it fails to acknowledge the structural inequalities in society which effectively determine the health of individuals. In its place a social model of practice, incorporating an analysis of the socio‐economic determinants of health and illness, is recommended, and this is supported by appeals to utilitarian ethics and to social morality and justice.

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