Is health promotion relevant across cultures and the socioeconomic spectrum?

Is health promotion a White middle-class phenomenon that people from other cultures and classes do not regard as important? When implementing health-promotion initiatives, are healthcare providers making assumptions that are not valid for other cultural or socioeconomic groups? How do people of various cultures and classes perceive health and health promotion? To explore these questions, this article reviews some of the relevant literature on culture and class in relation to health promotion, exploring issues foundational to the effectiveness of health-promotion programs and pertinent to delivering health-promotion interventions to ethnic, racial, and cultural minorities and poor populations. Health promoters are encouraged to consider the social determinants of their patients' health and tailor programs on the basis of their patients' motivations and resources.