HEALTH, WELLNESS and ILLNESS

Pamela Angela S. Borja

BSN 1-B
• Commonly defined in terms of the
presence or absence of diseases.
 Florence Nightingale

• She defined health as a state

of being well and using every
power the individual possess
to the smallest extent.
 World Health
Organization

• The constitution defined health as a

state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely
the absence of disease.
 Talcott Parsons

• He is an eminent
sociologist in America who
conceptualized health as
the ability to maintain
normal roles.
 AMERICAN NURSES
ASSOCIATION

• “Health and illness are human experiences.

The presence of illness does not preclude
health, nor does optimal health precludes
illness.”
People’s lives and
health are affected by
everything they
interact with.
Not only
environmental
influences (climate
and the availability of
food, shelter, clean air,
and water to drink)
but also people
(family, lovers,
employers, coworkers,
friends, etc.).
 PERSONAL DEFINITIONS OF
HEALTH
Health is a highly individual perception.
Many people define and see health as the
following;
 Being free from symptoms of disease and pain as
much as possible.
 Being able to be active and to do what they want
to do.
 Being in good spirits most of the time.
• The characteristics mentioned implies that
whatever our perception about health, health
is still a process that can be achieved through
time and not a sudden choice whenever we
want it to happen to us.
• It is a process in which we should work out to
develop and encourage every aspect of the
body, mind and emotions to work together
harmoniously as much as possible.
 FACTORS AFFECTING
INDIVIDUAL’S DEFINITION OF
HEALTH
1. Previous Experiences
2. Expectations of self
3. Age
4. Sociocultural influences
• Nurses should be aware of their own and other’s
definitions of health and accept and appreciate
other’s perception about being healthy, that way
a nurse can provide more meaningful and
effective assistance to help them maintain, regain,
or attain a state of health.
Wellness is a state of well-being which
is a component of health.
And the basic aspects of wellness
include;
• self-responsibility;
• an ultimate goal;
• a dynamic and ongoing process;
• daily decision making in the areas of nutrition,
stress management, physical fitness,
preventive health care, and emotional health;
• and most importantly, the whole being of the
individual.
7 COMPONENTS OF WELLNESS
• Environmental
The ability to promote health
measures that improve the standard of
living and quality of life in the community.
• Social
The ability to interact successfully with
people and within the environment of which
each person is a part, to develop and maintain
intimacy with significant others, and to develop
respect and tolerance for those with different
opinions and beliefs.
• Emotional
The ability to manage stress and to express
emotions appropriately and to accept one’s
limitations.
• Physical
The ability to carry out daily tasks, achieve
fitness, maintain adequate nutrition and proper
body fat … and generally practice positive
lifestyle habits.
• Spiritual
The belief in some force that serves to
unite human beings and provide meaning and
purpose to life. That includes person’s own
morals, values and ethics.
• Intellectual
The ability to learn and use information
effectively for personal, family, and career
development. Striving for continued growth and
learning to deal with new challenges effectively.
• Occupational
The ability to achieve a balance between
work and leisure time.
 MODELS OF HEALTH and
WELLNESS
• Models of health include the clinical model,
the role performance model, the adaptive
model, the eudaimonistic model, the agent-
host-environment model, and health-illness
continua.
• Clinical Model
The narrowest interpretation of health occurs
in the clinical model. People are viewed as
physiological systems with related functions, and
health is identified by the absence of signs and
symptoms of disease or injury. It is considered the
state of not being “sick”. In this model, the
opposite of health is disease or injury.
• Role Performance Model
Health is defined in terms of an individual’s
ability to fulfill societal roles, that is, to perform his
or her work. People usually fulfill several roles and
certain individuals may consider nonwork roles the
most important ones in their lives. According to this
model, people who can fulfill their roles are healthy
even if they have clinical illness.
• Adaptive Model
In the adaptive model, health is a creative
process; disease is a failure in adaptation, or
maladaptation. According to this model,
extreme good health is flexible adaptation to
the environment and interaction with the
environment to maximum advantage.
• Eudaimonistic Model
Health is seen as a coordination of actualization
or realization of a person’s potential. Actualization is
the apex of the fully developed personality, described
by Abraham Maslow. In this model, the highest
aspiration of people is fulfillment and complete
development, which is actualization. Illness in this
model is a condition that prevents self-actualization.
• Agent-Host Environment Model
It is also called the ecologic model. It has been
expanded into a general theory of the multiple
causes of disease. The model is used primarily in
predicting illness rather than promoting wellness,
although identification of risk factors that result from
the interactions of agent, host, and environment are
helpful in promoting and maintaining health.
• HEALTH-ILLNESS CONTINUA
People move back and forth within this continuum
day by day. It can be used to measure a person’s perceived
level of wellness. Health and illness or disease can be seen as
the opposite ends of a health continuum. From a high level
of health, a person’s condition can move through good
health, normal health, poor health, or extremely poor
health, eventually to death.
 VARIABLES INFLUENCING
HEALTH STATUS, BELIEFS and
PRACTICES
Many variables influence a person’s health
status, beliefs and behaviors or practices. These
factors may or not may be under conscious
control. People can usually control their health
behaviors, like choosing healthy or unhealthy
activities, but they cannot control their genetic
make up, age, sex, culture, and sometimes their
geographic environment.
• Health Status
State of health of an individual at a given
time, for example is pulse rate and body
temperature.
• Health Beliefs
Concepts about health that an individual
believes are true. Such beliefs may or not may
be founded on facts. Some are mostly
influenced by culture.
• Health Behaviors
The actions people take to understand
their health state, maintain an optimal state of
health, prevent illness and injury, and reach
their maximum physical and mental potential.
 INTERNAL VARIABLES
They are nonmodifiable variables because
they are the factors that cannot be changed.
 Biologic Dimension
Genetic makeup, sex, age and
developmental level all significantly
influence a person’s health.
• Genetic Makeup – influences biologic
characteristics, innate temperament, activity level,
and intellectual potential. It has been related to
susceptibility to specific disease, such as diabetes
and breast cancer.
• Sex – influences the distribution of disease.
Certain acquired and genetic diseases are
more common in one sex than in the other.
• Age – it is also a significant factor. The
distribution of disease varies with age.
• Developmental level- it has a major
impact on health status. For example, infants
lacking physiological and psychological
maturity so their defenses against disease are
lower during the first years of life.
 Psychological Dimension
Emotional factors influencing health include
mind-body interactions and self-concept.
• Mind-body interactions- can affect health
status positively or negatively. Emotional
responses to stress affect body function.
Increased attention given to the mind’s ability
to direct the body’s functioning for example is,
relaxation, meditation, and biofeedback
techniques are gaining wider recognition by
individuals and health care professionals.
• Self-concept- is how a person feels about self
and perceives the physical self, needs, roles
and abilities. It affects how people view and
handle situations. Such attitudes can affect
health practices, responses to stress and
illness, and the times when treatment is
sought.
 Cognitive Dimension
Cognitive or intellectual factors influencing
health include lifestyle choices and spiritual and
religious beliefs.
• Lifestyle- it refers to a person’s general way of
living, including living conditions and
individual patterns of behavior that are
influenced by sociocultural factors and
personal characteristics. It is often considered
to be the behaviors and activities over which
people have control and it may be choices
that have positive or negative effects on
health.
• Spiritual and Religious Beliefs – it can
significantly affect health behavior because it
is part of a person’s culture and norm.
• EXTERNAL VARIABLES
External variables affecting health include
the physical environment, standards of living,
family and cultural beliefs, and social support
networks.
• Environment
Geographic location determines climate, and
climate affects health. Pollution is an example of
environmental factor that can affect our health.
• Standards of Living
An individual’s standard of living; reflecting
occupation, income and education is related to
health, morbidity and mortality. Hygiene, food
habits, and the ability to seek health care advice
and service and follow health regimens vary among
high-income and low-income groups.
• Family and Cultural Beliefs
The family passes on patterns of daily living
and lifestyles to offspring. This may affect the
emotional health of an individual that depends on a
social environment that is free of excessive tension
and does not isolate the person from others. A
climate of open communication, sharing, and love
fosters the fulfillment of the person’s optimum
potential. Culture and social interactions also
influence how a person perceives, experiences and
copes with health and illness. Each culture has ideas
about health and these are often transmitted from
parents to children.
• Social Support Networks
Having a support network and job satisfaction
helps people avoid illness. Support persons also
help the individual confirm that illness exists.
People with inadequate support networks
sometimes allow themselves to become
increasingly ill before confirming illness and seeking
therapy. Support people also provide the
motivation for an ill person to become well again.