Public Health Case Study: Herbert's Health and Interventions

This case study examines Herbert, a 65-year-old man facing multiple health challenges including chronic hypertension, obesity, and vision problems, compounded by lifestyle factors such as excessive alcohol consumption, a poor diet, lack of exercise, financial problems, stress, and anxiety. The assignment addresses key questions regarding the prevention of illness and health promotion, defining each concept and differentiating between them with references to WHO guidelines. It then explores various health interventions applicable to Herbert's case, including the Health Beliefs Model, psychosocial interventions, tertiary interventions, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and stress management techniques, providing definitions and explaining how each approach could be used to improve Herbert's health outcomes. The study aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of Herbert's situation and propose effective strategies for promoting his health and preventing further illness.

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Running head: CASE STUDY
Case Study
Name
Institution

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QUESTIONS
Prevention of illness and health promotion
According to the World Health Organisation (2019), prevention of illness is a specific
individual-based and population-based intervention for secondary and primary
prevention whose aim is minimizing the disease burden as well as the risk factors
associated with it.
On the other hand, WHO (2019) has defined health promotion as the process of
empowering individuals with the desire to increase the control they have on their
health together with its determinants via multisectoral action and health literacy
efforts to enhance behaviors which are healthy.
Prevention of illness and health promotion share a number of goals and there is a
significant overlap between these functions. Conceptually, disease prevention can be
characterized as the services which concentrate on healthcare sector as compare to
health promotion services that are dependent on intersectoral actions concerned with
social health determinants (WHO, 2019).
Health intervention: Health beliefs model, psychosocial intervention, tertiary
intervention, Maslow law and stress management
Health beliefs model
This has been defined as a psychological health behavior change model which was
created for purposes of explaining and predicting health-related behaviors specifically
in relation to the uptake of health services. This model helps in the promotion of
health in addition to preventing illness as it deals with prediction in the engagement of
health-related behaviors such as getting vaccination (Janz, & Becker, 1984). This
model would help Herbert by accounting for the personal differences in attitudes and
beliefs.

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Psychosocial intervention
This has been defined as intervention which emphasizes on social and psychological
factors and not the biological factors according to Ruddy & House (2005). Based on
this definition, it is possible to include health education and psychological
interventions with a focus on social aspects like social support. This means that
psychosocial intervention promotes health and could be used to develop a social
support plan for Herbert for instance physical exercise group.
Tertiary intervention
Tertiary intervention has been referred to as a practice that seeks to minimize the
consequences of a disease which is established and achieves this through reduction of
the disease progression in addition to improvement of the quality of life. Thus, this
would help in both health promotion and prevention of illness (Simeonsson, 1991).
Self-management programs would be useful for Herbert as it is an example of tertiary
intervention.
Maslow law theory
Maslow hierarchy of needs is a psychology theory that was proposed by Abraham
Maslow and study’s how humans partake in behavioural motivation through terms
such as esteem, social needs, safety, and self-actualization among others (Zalenski, &
Raspa, 2006). Maslow would be critical in promoting health and preventing illness
and this would be used in Herbert’s situation to understand what he wants in life in
terms of satisfaction.
Biomedical model
This is a model which establishes health as having numerous components such as the
disease freedom, defect, or pain which consequently makes the human condition to be

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considered healthy. This model usually focuses on physical processes and fails to
account for individual subjectivity and social factors (Annandale, 1998). This model
can be used to promote health and Herbert would achieve his goal as its goal is
physical process.
Stress management
This refers to an array of psychotherapies and techniques whose aim is to control the
stress levels in particular chronic stress with the goal of improvement everyday
functioning (Boss, Bryant, & Mancini, 2016). Stress management can promote health
and also prevent illness as the use of professionals in health could help manage
Herbert’s problems.

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References
Annandale, E. (1998). The sociology of health and medicine: a critical introduction.
Polity.
Boss, P., Bryant, C. M., & Mancini, J. A. (2016). Family stress management: A
contextual approach. Sage Publications.
Janz, N. K., & Becker, M. H. (1984). The health belief model: A decade later. Health
education quarterly, 11(1), 1-47.
Ruddy, R., & House, A. (2005). Psychosocial interventions for conversion
disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4).
Simeonsson, R. J. (1991). Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention in early
intervention. Journal of Early Intervention, 15(2), 124-134.
WHO (2019). Health promotion and disease prevention. Retrieved from
http://www.emro.who.int/about-who/public-health-functions/health-
promotion-disease-prevention.html
Zalenski, R. J., & Raspa, R. (2006). Maslow's hierarchy of needs: a framework for
achieving human potential in hospice. Journal of palliative medicine, 9(5),
1120-1127.