I am mostly interested in public health aspect of the health sciences. Public health is concerned with the health of the community as Baum, 2003). by promoting healthy behaviors such as preventing and reducing drug abuse, obesity, violence, and suicide rates and improving nutrition and physical activity. The other goal is promoting and protecting safe, healthy and resilient environment. This goal can be met through increasing community preparedness and resilience. It can also be met through preventing and reducing exposure to harmful environmental hazards and contaminants (Baum, 2003). The other goal is improving public health capacity to improve health outcomes. This goal will be achieved through promoting health equity in all programs and policies.

Many factors affect the health behavior of individuals and the community. These factors include physical, social, emotional and intellectual factors. Physical factors include People who work in unhealthy working conditions are more prone to develop stress related illnesses(Baum, 2003). Accessibility and usage of health services that prevent and treat diseases also influence healthy behavior. People who dosocial status are linked to improved health and vice versa. Gender also affects good health because men and women suffer from different diseases at different ages (Rothman, Kelly, Hertel & Salovey, 2003). Emotional factors such as happiness and sadness can also affect healthy behavior. People who are sad are more likely to engage in riskyconfidence, and ors (Bamabydistance.ua.edu, 2015). Individuals and communities should be given health education necessary in promoting health behavior where a health worker identifies requirement for such a need.

There exist several behaviors that promote and compromise health of individuals and the community. aintain a healthy mental status (Rothman, Kelly, Hertel &Salovey, 2003). Sleeping between six and nine hours a night has been shown to help in dictating a person’s energy level, maintaining mental alertness and ability to maintain a healthy weight level. Taking daily supplements like vitamins, herbs and nutrients are good supporters of health and wellness. These behaviors that foster good health such as good nutrition is highlighted in competency C as outlined in NCHEC. One of the health-compromising behaviors is engaging in activities that can lead to injuries such as motorcycle racing. Self-harm and suicide behavior also compromise health behavior. Peer pressure and problem behaviors such as drug abuse contribute to poor health. Engaging in violence behavior such as fighting has been shown to compromise health due to injuries sustained by the victims. These behaviors that hinder well-being such as self-harm are highlighted in competency C of responsibility 1.

The role of learning and affective experiences plays an integral part in shaping the patterns of healthy behaviors. These roles are outlined in sub competency of competency B in responsibility 1 (Bamabydistance.ua.edu, 2015). Learning is the ability to acquire knowledge. When people learn they become educated. High education levels are linked to good health, less stress and a high self-confidence. Learned people have access to a wide knowledge of health information such as internet and other written materials. These people use this knowledge to equip themselves with healthy behaviors that improve their quality of life (Baum, 2003). Educated people have less stress and high self-confidence which help them to avoid risky behaviors such as drug abuse. Affective experiences such as happiness or sadness affect patterns of healthy behaviors. People who are happy have less stress than the sad ones, and they don’t engage in risky behaviors such as drug abuse. Sad people experience a lot of stress, and they engage in risky behaviors such as drinking alcohol as a mean of relieving their stress. Therefore, affective experiences influence patterns of shaping healthy behaviors.

References

Bamabydistance.ua.edu,. (2015). Competencies for Health Educators – Bama By Distance. Retrieved 15 February 2015, from http://bamabydistance.ua.edu/degrees/ma-in-health-studies-online/current-students/compentencies-for-health-educators.php

Baum, F. (2003). The new public health (No. Ed. 2). Oxford University Press.

Rothman, A. J., Kelly, K. M., Hertel, A. W., & Salovey, P. (2003). Message frames and illness representations: Implications for interventions