Showing papers by "Helen Roberts published in 1993"

Prevention is better

Abstract: There have been a number of important critiques of the idea of prevention from a theoretical viewpoint, but in practice the value of preventive activities has been less subject to critical appraisal, and less well substantiated by research, than the enthusiasm for them might indicate. The government White Paper The Health of the Nation published in July 1992 focusses on five health issues where preventive work is advocated. This is likely to lead to an increase in health promotion activities. One of the areas prioritised in the White Paper is accidents. This paper explores a number of current preventive efforts in this field, and illustrates prevention in action by drawing on a study of safety as a social value. Fundamental differences in approach to prevention by professionals and citizens identified in this study indicate that if the flow of work stemming from the White Paper is to be effective, citizen conceptions of need in this area will have to be more seriously addressed than has been the case in the past. One means of doing this is through the establishment of hazard or risk surveillance systems at a local level, complementing the injury surveillance systems which inevitably focus on the sequelae rather than the antecedents, of accidents.