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Journal of the Australian Health Promotion Association
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Tensions between the conduct of randomised controlled trials in health promotion research and the role of autonomy in human health and well being

David R. Buchanan
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306 Arnold House, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. Email: buchanan@schoolph.umass.edu

Health Promotion Journal of Australia 26(3) 263-268 https://doi.org/10.1071/HE15032
Submitted: 4 May 2015  Accepted: 3 September 2015   Published: 17 November 2015

Abstract

The goal of developing increasingly effective interventions to change health-related behaviours, which is an inevitable result of the use of the scientific method, conflicts with respect for the autonomy and dignity of the individual. This paper recommends a new direction for the field of health promotion based on building people’s capacity to exercise autonomy, in the ethically relevant meaning of the term, and thereby promote a more comprehensive understanding of the goals of the field, a state of health that includes the irreducible ethical dimension signified by human dignity.

Key words: behavioural science theory, research design.


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