The foundations of health promotion.

Abstract This book chapter seeks to: (i) explore concepts of 'health' held by lay people and health promoters; (ii) introduce recent work on the social determinants of health; (iii) introduce certain threshold concepts including salutogenesis, social models of health and upstream thinking; (iv) establish the value base of health promotion; (v) introduce the disciplinary foundations of health promotion; (vi) outline in more detail 'empowerment' as a key value in health promotion; and (vii) describe the key WHO conferences, which provide the milestones in the development of health promotion. This chapter has provided a foundation upon which to base further study; it has presented the key values and principles of health promotion; emphasized the need to tackle the social determinants of health; presented a history of health promotion's development through the WHO-led conferences; introduced some threshold concepts; introduced the disciplines that contribute to health promotion; outlined professional and lay concepts of health; and suggested that empowerment approaches are the essence of health promotion.