Theory and fundamentals of health promotion for children and adolescents

Theory is an important part of health promotion, both for research and practice. It provides a structural backbone to exploring how to promote healthy behaviors and elucidate behavioral change. Given the diversity in the field of health promotion, there are a range of theories that attempt to describe how and why individuals participate in certain health behaviors, what influences them, and how to go about behavior change. The chapter is divided into individual and social/ecological theories of health promotion. The heath belief model, transtheoretical model of change, and theory of reasoned action and planned behavior will be explained under individual theories. Then social cognitive theory and ecological model will be discussed as examples of social and ecological theories. A brief review of two models of interventions is given—the tiered prevention model and PRECEDE-PROCEED—to provide a practical guide for implementing health promotion interventions.