Health Education: The Emperor's New Clothes
Abstract
This paper argues that the Western medical model of health is inadequate for the promotion of positive health and that unless we develop obtainable ways to achieve positive health then health education is like the Emperor’s new clothes — all process and no product. It is suggested that traditional Chinese medicine does have a positive and obtainable model which is worthy of exploration. The paper ends by asking three questions on the premise ‘Physician heal thyself’. (1) Can you educate about health without having some experience of it? (2) Can we agree on a state of attainable health? (3) If we can, can we teach the means of its achievement?
Fields of Study & Subjects
Health
psychology
and well-being
Medicine
History
and Philosophy
Public Health Policies and Education
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Routledge eBooks
- Pages
- 83–87
- Publication date
- 26 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter