Free Essay: Importance of Theory in the Practice of Public Health

There are many reasons why the theory is important in the development of public health campaigns. First, theories are helpful in understanding health behaviours and the context in which they take place (Davis, Campbell, Hildon, Hobbs & Michie, 2014). Secondly, theories help healthcare professionals to know the reasons why a person does or does not practice engage in health-promoting behaviours (Hardcastle et al., 2015). Because of this, they provide new ways of conceptualising and addressing the most recent challenges in public health (Blue, Shove, Carmona & Kelly, 2014). Additionally, theories are useful in identifying the information required in designing the most effective intervention strategy (Bailey et al., 2018).

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Moreover, theories help program planners in the planning, implementation, evaluation, and intervention stages of programs (Sheringham et al., 2017). Because of this, they are useful in answering the questions: Why? What? And How? Furthermore, theories are helpful in understanding the nature of different health behaviours. That is, they help health care professionals explaining the dynamics related to the behaviours, the procedures needed to change the behaviour, and the influence of external factors on behaviour (National Cancer Institute, n.d.).

Ways of Incorporating Theory into Public Health Campaign

To effectively incorporate theory into public health campaign, it is crucial for researchers to take into consideration the factors that can limit or magnify the impacts of the campaign. Secondly, it is vital for researchers to theorise the campaign fully. This is because poor campaign theory makes evaluators to examine the wrong outcomes, may make them expect premature changes, or may cause them compare inappropriate groups (Weaver, 2018).

References

Blue, S., Shove, E., Carmona, C., & Kelly, M. (2014). Theories of practice and public health: understanding (un)healthy practices. Critical Public Health, 26(1), 36-50. doi: 10.1080/09581596.2014.980396

Davis, R., Campbell, R., Hildon, Z., Hobbs, L., & Michie, S. (2014). Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review. Health Psychology Review, 9(3), 323-344. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2014.941722

Davis, R., Campbell, R., Hildon, Z., Hobbs, L., & Michie, S. (2014). Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review. Health Psychology Review, 9(3), 323-344. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2014.941722

Hardcastle, S., Hancox, J., Hattar, A., Maxwell-Smith, C., Thogersen-Ntoumani, C., & Hagger, M. (2015). Motivating the unmotivated: how can health behavior be changed in those unwilling to change?. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00835

Sheringham, J., Solmi, F., Ariti, C., Baim-Lance, A., Morris, S., & Fulop, N. (2017). The value of theory in programmes to implement clinical guidelines: Insights from a retrospective mixed-methods evaluation of a programme to increase adherence to national guidelines for chronic disease in primary care. PLOS ONE, 12(3), e0174086. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0174086

Weaver, S. (2018). Building Our Understanding: Key Concepts of Evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dch/programs/healthycommunitiesprogram/tools/pdf/apply_theory.pdf