The INHERIT Model: A Tool to Jointly Improve Health, Environmental Sustainability and Health Equity through Behavior and Lifestyle Change

Nina Van der Vliet, Brigit Staatsen, Hanneke Kruize, George Morris, Caroline Costongs, Ruth Bell, Sibila Marques, Timothy Taylor, Sonia Quiroga, Pablo Martinez Juarez, Vojtech Máca, Milan Ščasný (), Iva Zverinova, Fimka Tozija, Dragan Gjorgjev, Geir Arild Espnes and Jantine Schuit
Additional contact information
Nina Van der Vliet: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Sustainability, Environment and Health, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Brigit Staatsen: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Sustainability, Environment and Health, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
Hanneke Kruize: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Sustainability, Environment and Health, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
George Morris: European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro TR1 3HD, UK
Caroline Costongs: EuroHealthNet, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
Ruth Bell: Institute of Health Equity, UCL, London WC1E 7HB, UK
Sibila Marques: Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal
Timothy Taylor: European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Truro TR1 3HD, UK
Pablo Martinez Juarez: Department of Economics, Universidad de Alcalá, 28801 Alcalá, Spain
Vojtech Máca: Charles University, Environment Centre (CUNI), 162 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Fimka Tozija: The Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Macedonia (IJZRM), 1000 Skopje, Macedonia
Dragan Gjorgjev: The Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Macedonia (IJZRM), 1000 Skopje, Macedonia
Geir Arild Espnes: NTNU Center for Health Promotion Research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7030 Trondheim, Norway
Jantine Schuit: Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Tilburg, 5000 Tilburg, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-21

Abstract: The need for analysis and action across the interrelated domains of human behaviors and lifestyles, environmental sustainability, health and inequality is increasingly apparent. Currently, these areas are often not considered in conjunction when developing policies or interventions, introducing the potential for suboptimal or conflicting outcomes. The INHERIT model has been developed within the EU-funded project INHERIT as a tool to guide thinking and intersectoral action towards changing the behaviors and lifestyles that play such an important role in today’s multidisciplinary challenges. The model integrates ecological public health and behavioral change models, emphasizing inequalities and those parts of the causal process that are influenced by human behaviors and lifestyles. The model was developed through web-based and live discussions with experts and policy stakeholders. To test the model’s usability, the model was applied to aspects of food consumption. This paper shows that the INHERIT model can serve as a tool to identify opportunities for change in important −food-related behaviors and lifestyles and to examine how they impact on health, health inequalities, and the environment in Europe and beyond. The INHERIT model helps clarify these interrelated domains, creating new opportunities to improve environmental health and health inequality, while taking our planetary boundaries into consideration.

Keywords: integrated models; environmental health; behavior; behavioral change; equality; sustainability; food (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1435/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1435/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:7:p:1435-:d:156737

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().