2012 Conference Theme
Making Healthy Choices the Easiest Choices:
Increasing Awareness, Enhancing Motivation, Building Skills,
and Creating Supportive Environments
Three decades ago, we thought that education was enough. We thought all we had to do was help people understand the health risks of tobacco, junk food, alcohol and drugs, and the health benefits of exercise, nutritious foods, stress management, and proactive medical self-care. We thought people would use this knowledge to transform their lives. Three decades of research and practical experience have shown us that education is not enough, in fact, it may not be very important at all.
We now understand that it is much more important to figure out how to motivate people to want to practice a healthy lifestyle, to provide tailored skill building programs that convey the technical skills required to perform new behaviors and the problem-solving skills required to build new habits, overcome obstacles and work through the setbacks that always occur, and to create physical and cultural environments at home, at work and in the community that make healthy choices the easiest choices.
Our goals for this conference are three fold: First, to provide a forum for engaging discussions among practitioners, scientists, clinicians and business managers on the most effective health promotion strategies. Second, to provide reports from top scientists and practitioners on what we know about strategies to enhance motivation, build skills, and create environments that make the healthy choices the easiest choices. Third, to begin to articulate the optimal mix of research and practice necessary to develop the most effective strategies.
Michael P. O’Donnell, PhD, MPH, MBA
Program Chair, Art and Science of Health Promotion Conference
Editor-in-Chief, American Journal of Health Promotion
