The Hitchhiker’s guide to salutogenesis: Salutogenic pathways to health promotion

Three books, three languages, one topic:

The Hitchhiker's guide to salutogenesis: Salutogenic pathways to health promotion

La salutogénèse: Petit guide pour promouvoir la santé

Guía del autoestopista salutogénico: Camino salutogénico hacia la promoción de la salud  

Authors: Roy, M., Lindström, B., Juvinyà, D., & Eriksson, M.

These three books are useful to health promotion for different reasons. First, they directly address one of the main critics intended to health promotion that is, its lack of theory. The salutogenic perspective of Aaron Antonovsky presented and explained in these books represents a particularly well-suited theoretical framework to operationalize the Ottawa Charter for health promotion. Second, these books are written in simple terms in order to be accessible for every researchers, practitioners, stakeholders, and overall population as well, in the three official languages of the IUHPE. They moreover talk about health promotion in terms of promoting health rather than in terms of preventing diseases. This discussion is based on actual evidence supporting this perspective in health promotion. What creates health? What are the resources that people can use to reach a better health and increase their quality of life? This was the main purpose of these books rather than focusing on what protects against diseases.

Questions to debate online on VHPO.net prior to the Meet the Authors session:

1-To what extent can the salutogenic theory address the criticisms made to health promotion?
2-How does the salutogenic theory differ from other positive health approaches?
3-What are the main criticisms that we could address concerning the salutogenic theory?


This book(s) will be presented at the IUHPE World Conference 2013 under the session Meet the Authors with the title "Salutogenesis all around the world: A joint session with French, English, and Spanish version of a health promotion guide".