IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jchals/v9y2018i2p39-d178401.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Making a “Pledge”: Moral Suasion and Health Promotion Practice

Author

Listed:
  • Glenn Laverack

    (Unit for Health Promotion Research, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9-10, DK-6700 Esjberg, Denmark)

Abstract

Moral suasion offers a versatile and low-cost approach to influence social norms and risky health behaviours, but is often neglected in health promotion in favour of using educational approaches. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges and the benefits of using moral suasion in health promotion. Past and present experiences of using moral suasion to promote health are discussed in conjunction with other approaches, such as harm reduction. The challenge of using moral suasion as an approach is that it focuses on individual behaviour change, rather than addressing the broader structural causes of poor health. However, the paper concludes that the versatility of the moral suasion approach and the success of using “pledges” means that it can be an important intervention, alongside other educational and motivational techniques, to help to change behaviours at the individual and collective levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Glenn Laverack, 2018. "Making a “Pledge”: Moral Suasion and Health Promotion Practice," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-5, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:9:y:2018:i:2:p:39-:d:178401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/9/2/39/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/9/2/39/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glenn Laverack, 2018. "‘Leaving No One Behind’: The Challenge of Reaching Migrant Populations," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-5, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Corie Gray & Gemma Crawford & Bruce Maycock & Roanna Lobo, 2021. "Socioecological Factors Influencing Sexual Health Experiences and Health Outcomes of Migrant Asian Women Living in ‘Western’ High-Income Countries: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-14, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:9:y:2018:i:2:p:39-:d:178401. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.