Health Promotion, Illness Prevention, and Levels of Preventive Care

Yousef is a community health nurse who’s volunteering at a free medical clinic. One of the clients who comes to the clinic is a 53-year-old construction worker, named Ben, who states, “I want to be tested for diabetes.”

Nurse Yousef notes that Ben is moderately overweight, has a patch over his left eye, and is a current smoker. Nurse Yousef asks Ben to elaborate on why he wants to be tested for diabetes, and Ben responds, “I haven’t been going to the gym as much, so I’ve gained some weight. My dad has diabetes, so I want to make sure I don’t have it.”

Nurse Yousef says, “Thank you for sharing, Ben. I’d be happy to get you screened for diabetes today. I think it would be a good idea for us to discuss some other aspects of your health too.

I can’t help but notice you have a patch over your eye.” Ben nods in agreement and says, “Yeah, I went blind in my left eye about a year ago after a work accident. The doctor said there’s nothing they can do.” Nurse Yousef will use what he knows about health promotion and illness prevention to care for Ben.

Okay, so the concepts of health promotion and illness prevention are closely related since they both affect a client’s wellbeing and quality of life. Health promotion refers to activities that protect health and enhance an individual’s existing level of wellness, such as regular exercise and eating a balanced diet. On the other hand, illness prevention involves actions that can reduce an individual’s exposure to risk factors, which are things that increase the likelihood of developing an illness, disease, or trauma. Examples of illness prevention are high blood pressure screenings or wearing a helmet when riding a bike.

Although risk factors don’t cause an illness directly, they increase the chance of developing one and they can be categorized into modifiable and non-modifiable factors. Modifiable risk factors are ones that can be altered by lifestyle practices and behaviors, like drinking enough water or not texting while driving; whereas non-modifiable factors can’t be changed, such as age, genetics, and family history. For example, Ben has the non-modifiable risk factor of a family history of type 2 diabetes as well as the modifiable risk factor of obesity and cigarette smoking. After you identify risk factors, you can form a plan on illness prevention.

Illness prevention can be categorized into primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of prevention. First, the goal of primary prevention is to minimize the chance of developing an illness in the first place by reducing modifiable risk factors, such as Ben wearing ear protection at his construction site to reduce the risk of hearing loss. Another example is when an individual receives their yearly flu shot.