基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 2000. The contributors raise profound questions about the role of government or employer efforts to change health-related behavior.
Full Description
The government, the media, HMOs, and individual Americans have all embraced programs to promote disease prevention. Yet obesity is up, exercise is down, teenagers continue to smoke, and sexually transmitted disease is rampant. Why? These intriguing essays examine the ethical and social problems that create subtle obstacles to changing Americans' unhealthy behavior. The contributors raise profound questions about the role of the state or employers in trying to change health-related behavior, about the actual health and economic benefits of even trying, and about the freedom and responsibility of those of us who, as citizens, will be the target of such efforts. They ask, for instance, whether we are all equally free to live healthy lives or whether social and economic conditions make a difference. Do disease prevention programs actually save money, as is commonly argued? What is the moral legitimacy of using economic and other incentives to change people's behavior, especially when (as with HMOs) the goal is to control costs?
One key issue explored throughout the book is the fundamental ambivalence of traditionally libertarian Americans about health promotion programs: we like the idea of good health, but we do not want government or others posing threats to our personal lifestyle choices. The contributors argue that such programs will continue to prove less than wholly successful without a fuller examination of their place in our national values.
Contents
Preface IntroductionDaniel Callahan Personal Responsibility for Health: Contexts and Controversies Meredith Minkler Health Promotion and Civil Liberties: The Price of Freedoms and the Price of Health Beverly Ovrebo The Credibility of Claims for the Economic Benefits of Health PromotionHelen Halpin Shauffler Sticks and Carrots and Baseball Bats: Economic and Other Incentives to Modify Health Behavior E. Haavi Morreim Health Promotion and the Common Good: Reflections on the Politics of NeedAnn Robertson Health Promotion and the Common Good: Toward a Politics of Practice Ronald Labonte The Promise of Molecular Medicine in Preventing Disease: Examining the Burden of Genetic Risk Barbara Koenig and Alan Stockdale Freedom, Healthism, and Health Promotion: Rinding the Right Balance Daniel Callahan Promoting Health and Preventing Disease: Ethical Demands and Social Challenges Daniel Callahan, Barbara Koenig, and Meredith Minkler Contributors Index
