Health promotion indicators: current status, issues and problems

This article describes the background to the current status of health promotion indicator research and defines the major issues and problems involved. It then discusses both of these areas in detail. Problems in health promotion indicators fall under three major headings: methodologies, concepts and theories, and purpose and applications. Two other kinds of problems are discovered under these headings. Problems of methodology include djfficulties in measurement and data analysis. The issues in concepts and theories of indicators include defining the field and defining the theory, while issues in purposes and applications involve the use of indicators in the fields of research and policy. The authors conclude that the emerging paradigm of health promotion has a wider perspective than the paradigm of disease prevention, medical care and medical treatmen