SOCIAL FORCES & SYSTEM DYNAMICS CONFERENCE
July 17-19, 2008 in Troutdale, Oregon
For more information, visit: http://www.nwhf.org/events/systemshealth.php
“Unless and until we become sensitive to the real power of the systems we
live in, and fully appreciate the implicit dynamics of those systems,
behavior change will be transient and situational change illusory.”
(Zimbardo, 2007)
Social forces are major determinants of our health. New research and recent
experiences - in our own lives and with those we live, work and serve -
prove this daily. Even diseases attributable to individual behavior, like
obesity, are influenced by underlying conditions such as poverty,
discrimination, stress, marketing by profit-driven global corporations,
substandard housing, built environments, and so forth. Health disparities
exist because of these forces.
This is why approaches that address only individual behavioral change are
no longer sufficient to improve health and prevent disease.
Those interested in learning more about how systems influence health are
invited to attend a three-day, nonresidential conference in Portland.
Leaders of nonprofit organizations that provide services to disenfranchised
members of our communities are particularly encouraged to register. Partial
scholarships are available for those representing or serving disadvantaged
communities and communities of color.
Curious? Attend one of two pre-conference informational sessions in
Portland:
1) May 15, 4 pm, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, 619 SW 11th Avenue,
Suite 300
2) May 20, 4 pm, Northwest Health Foundation, 221 NW Second Avenue, Suite
300
Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette,
Northwest Health Foundation, and GREX, an affiliate of the A.K. Rice
Institute for the Study of Social Systems.