Chapter two
Control by knowledge to tame risks
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Smoke Free Europe - A Forum for Networks
ealth education has long been dependent on information and solid
facts on matters of health and disease have guided professionals
through the years. Although information production has been on
the increase continually it has been possible to differentiate
and elucidate the bases of the messages required in health education.
There is often a long way from information to knowledge, and today this distance is widening rapidly. Of all the information produced by the plethora of sources it is a tough task to extract information that is appropriate, reliable, and supported by evidence. Controlling risk through knowledge is thus becoming increasingly hard. There are many solutions to be tried and tested--through fora, information services, referee-controlled papers, and so on. All lag behind the flow of information, a situation that can lead to more arbitrary choices in what information people accept: you take the first available. As a result the information flow tends to take control.
People need to control the risks they encounter in life. One means is to try to do so using information alone. Another seeks to use information for rational interpretations, in which the relative standing of risks is measured, compared and monitored in different ways. Common criteria are mortality and money, two forms of cost people tend to take seriously. Both are hard outcome criteria, and from the viewpoint of health promotion we have to find new mechanisms to assess risk that uses information to its best extent.
This can focus, for instance, on exerting greater control over
our environment, and not just the physical environment. Another
way is to improve people's coping abilities, and these demand
a sense of coherence and perspective in addition to specific mechanisms.
Some coping skills are learnt in early life, but others have to
be sought out and assimilated. More understanding is needed to
make it possible for people to make healthy choices when trying
to cope with everyday life, in translating information into knowledge.
Harri Vertio