Anders Hanson
The original Swedish edition of this book appeared in 2004. [Hälsopromotion i Arbetslivet]
It has gained a place of central importance in the scientific literature for educational courses in Public Health and Health promotion.
In order to meet current international interest in the salutogenic perspective in Workplace Health Promotion, the original text of the book has now been directly translated into English.
The aim of the book is to describe health promotion as an idea, an area of knowledge and a strategy for healthpromoting work primarily in working life. The idea of salutogenesis and Aaron Antonovsky's theory of a sense of coherence (SOC) form important starting points for the book.
A conceptual model is derived from the international tradition of Health Promotion and Workplace Health Promotion, which can serve as a guide for the work of health promotion in various settings. The book is theoretical in character but it is also written with an eye to providing support in the practical application of health promotion work.
Anders Hanson has a Master’s degree in occupational and organisational psychology and has many years of educational experience in health promotion, among other things as a teacher in the health promotion program at the University West in Trollhättan Sweden.
Since 2000, Anders has been an independent educator and fulltime consultant within the field of organisation, leadership and health.
The present book sets out to describe health promotion as an idea, a field of knowledge and a strategy for health measures, primarily in working life. One reason for writing the book is the need to have a more unified view of the ideas, disciplines and experiences to be found in this field. This overall view provides a useful theoretical survey in helping us to understand what we, as practitioners, are doing. Simultaneously it serves to introduce and develop a relatively new approach to thinking and working with health issues. An exposition like the present one is also needed in order to spread knowledge about health promotion among those who are interested in this approach.
For many years, there has been great interest in- as well as a great need of-finding alternative ways of tackling the issues of illness and health. Since the end of the 1990s, not least in Sweden, the dramatic rise in absence from work due to illness has increased the pressure to find solutions.
The present book provides a more substantial theoretical basis and embodies a three-stage model:
1. The idea of promoting health
2. A theory about what is good for health
3. A theory and guidelines about how the change to more favourable circumstances for promoting health can be accomplished.
Expertise about the book:
"This book contains an analysis of the concepts which are used in the domain of health promotion and also offers a description of how they have evolved in an international perspective.
The arguments in the text are presented in depth and instead of laying down one thing after another, both the possibilities and difficulties in the work of health promotion are pointed out. For those of us who have been preoccupied practically with questions of the working environment, it is clear that we need to arouse the interest of both employers and employees in these issues. Anders Hanson's book is well adapted to this purpose".
Professor Töres Theorell
"This work is important, interesting and stimulating. It comes at the right time given the strains and stresses of modern society and working life. By providing a survey that is analytical and pragmatic, it is well-fitted to serve as textbook.
As far as Health Promotion is concerned, the book satisfies a hitherto unsatisfied need for a survey of the field in depth. In my own case, as a former Head of Health Promotion at the European Office of the World Health Organisation and thus largely the motor behind and during the Ottawa Conference, it has been especially interesting to have this follow-up".
Professor Owe Petersson
