Speech and language therapy in public/collective health: Understanding prevention and the paradigm of health promotion

Abstract

The paradigm of health and health promotion represents important transformations in the guidelines, policies, concepts, beliefs and practices of public/collective health, with repercussions on the education and social rules of health professionals. In speech and language therapy and several other areas, doubts and misunderstandings of the concept of health promotion still prevail and it is still understood as part of the prevention model proposed by Leavel and Clark (1976). It is necessary to understand the concepts and conceptions underlying the health promotion proposal, especially regarding aspects which make it distinct from prevention. The objective of this article is to present some differences between health prevention and health promotion in order to subsidize reflections and discussions on the present trends and future perspectives of speech and language therapy in public/collective health, based on the theories of Health Promotion.