Article: Going on Offense to Enable Health Gains Published

With my wonderful colleagues, Dr. Mike Felts, Dr. Beth Chaney and Madison Johnson, we published an exciting paper, Going on Offense to Promote Health Promotion Gains. This link takes you to the Art of Health Promotion publication. Our article is on pg. 451-453.

The article explains how we can go on offense to go after and get better well-being and health so we can experience progress toward a more fulfilling life. This offense to complements our traditional and ubiquitous defensive approach to health. Traditional methods generally wait until something is wrong, then work to correct that problem.

The article explains this using theoretical supporting reasons from the Risk Homeostasis Theory(RHT) and Feature Positive Effect(FPE). RHT outlines that eliminating risks just shifts the type of risk and it is not enough to create a better life. In addition, according to FPE, a better life is more likely caused by something that is present, such as achievements, more so than the absence of something bad, such as risks or problems.

This paper is exciting for us because it introduces the neologism, “paneugenesis”(neologism is a word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use) . The Paneuegenesis process is actions, by individuals, groups or organizations that create the best outcomes for all parties, with a byproduct of pervasive reciprocal positive benefits. In other words it is about creating better relationships with people, organizations, and the environment. Paneugenesis is the process of generating comprehensive improvements by creating interactions so everyone and everything benefits.

To operationalize or to provide a guide about how to apply paneugenesis for health promotion, the article provides a Logic Model using Paneugenesis as its guide. As noted in many of my posts, the paneugenesis process can be applied to most settings to generate comprehensive benefits by creating interactions so everyone and everything benefits. The model and video explaining the model are below.