Respect is a fundamental value important to successful interactions and relationships within societies. Respect is especially crucial in the context of public health, where the well-being of communities hinges on the cooperation and trust between individuals and health organizations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a leading public health agency, recognizes this in one approach to health education and promotion.
The CDC's Virtual Healthy Schools (VHS) is an innovative tool to showcase how schools can support the health and academic achievement of students through the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. This model emphasizes the importance of respect by fostering safe, inclusive learning environments where empathy, effective communication, and respect for diversity are emphasized. The inclusion of "respect" in the CDC's mission statement reflects a commitment to treating all persons with dignity and integrity, essential for building trust and ensuring equitable health outcomes.
However, concerns arise when variations in mission statements, such as those seen in a beta version of the CDC's community health model, offered on CDC's website to me on March 26, 2024, omits the term "respect." This omission could signal a shift towards a more reactionary model of healthcare, focused primarily on responding to immediate threats rather than promoting overall well-being and preventive health behaviors. Such a model may not adequately address the broader social determinants of health to significantly impact community health outcomes.
The CDC's school model connects to the idea of love, manifested as respect, in the Love Is Respect idea, supported on CDC's website, available at Preventing Teen Dating Violence | CDC, to help teenagers, especially those experiencing abuse. By contrast, a correctional health model without the foundational element of respect might lead to a healthcare approach with less proactive initiatives and more punitive, potentially alienating those we aim to serve.
To bridge the gap between these models, I propose a third, more integrative approach to healthcare with evidence based practices. I suggest to combine the proactive, respectful ethos of the school model with the responsive, threat-focused aspects of the correctional model with encouraging the language of respect with learning science. In my investigation of the science of respect, I learn the importance of specific research available at Revisiting respect for persons: conceptual analysis and implications for clinical practice - PMC (nih.gov), With further investigation, I find specific studies to support respectful language with the Positive Behavior Support model available at Positive Behavior Support for Individuals with Behavior Challenges - PMC (nih.gov).
Encouraging respectful language facilitates cooperation, fosters trust, and ultimately leads to better health outcomes. As the CDC helps us to evolve our strategies and mission for health care, I encourage respectful language to safeguard the health of our communities.
