Chapter 15: future challenges
Aging population
● Factors shaping health aging: social connectedness, physical activity, healthy eating,
prevention of falls, tobacco control
Future priorities
● Select improvement of certain poor health habits: smoking, high-cholesterol foods,
high-fat foods, exercise
● Other health habits are on the rise: diabetes, obesity, cancer
Social marketing: the application of marketing technologies developed in the commercial
sector to the solution of social problems where the bottom line is behavioural change
Factors to consider: technology, commercial drive, social views, behaviour
Future priorities: who’s at risk
● Early identification is important
● May allow for behavioural / lifestyle modification
● Role for health psychologists
● At risk vs develop risk
Prevention
● Continuation of prevention initiatives
● Window of vulnerability
● Behavioural immunization
● Targets media campaigns
Focus on the elderly
● Canada’s elderly population is growing
● Change in health behaviour / habits
● Quality of life
Focus on health promotion
● Chronic illnesses are expensive
● Educational programs: lifestyle modification
● Long term behaviours change
● Physicians need to incorporate health promotion
● Use status as tools for change
● Complementary and alternative medicine
● Finding happiness vs hedonic adaptation: taking a lot and consuming, but then
coming back to baseline happiness
○ (humans try and do things to get instant gratification (Black Friday sale), then
got back to baseline level of happiness, you want good resting state of
happiness, making good long term choices that provide that true core
happiness
Aging population
● Factors shaping health aging: social connectedness, physical activity, healthy eating,
prevention of falls, tobacco control
Future priorities
● Select improvement of certain poor health habits: smoking, high-cholesterol foods,
high-fat foods, exercise
● Other health habits are on the rise: diabetes, obesity, cancer
Social marketing: the application of marketing technologies developed in the commercial
sector to the solution of social problems where the bottom line is behavioural change
Factors to consider: technology, commercial drive, social views, behaviour
Future priorities: who’s at risk
● Early identification is important
● May allow for behavioural / lifestyle modification
● Role for health psychologists
● At risk vs develop risk
Prevention
● Continuation of prevention initiatives
● Window of vulnerability
● Behavioural immunization
● Targets media campaigns
Focus on the elderly
● Canada’s elderly population is growing
● Change in health behaviour / habits
● Quality of life
Focus on health promotion
● Chronic illnesses are expensive
● Educational programs: lifestyle modification
● Long term behaviours change
● Physicians need to incorporate health promotion
● Use status as tools for change
● Complementary and alternative medicine
● Finding happiness vs hedonic adaptation: taking a lot and consuming, but then
coming back to baseline happiness
○ (humans try and do things to get instant gratification (Black Friday sale), then
got back to baseline level of happiness, you want good resting state of
happiness, making good long term choices that provide that true core
happiness
