Health Promotion - Theories and Practice - Assignment Example

Health Promotion: Theories and Practice Definitions of health Health is defined in a variety of ways by different Arguing that the World Health Organization’s health definition appears to work against its effective functioning, Rodolfo Saracci gives an alternative definition for health. According to him “health is a condition of well being free of disease or infirmity and a basic and universal human right” (Saracci). Here, Saracci tries to define health as a fundamental human right but not a service; and according to him, health is a condition of being free from disease or infirmity (ibid). Evidently, an individual’s health seems satisfactory when he/she is free from diseases or other physical problems. According to another view, health can be defined as “a dynamic state of well-being characterised by a physical and mental potential, which satisfies the demand of life commensurate with age, culture, and personal responsibility” (Bircher 2005). As compared to the definition provided by Saracci, Bircher’s definition is more comprehensive. He opines that good health condition will be characterized by a physical and mental well-being (ibid). The author adds that this dynamic state of well being in turn would satisfactorily meet an individual’s demands of life with respect to his/her age, culture, and personal responsibility, which are the major determinants of a person’s health needs (ibid). David Seedhouse also gives a definition that reflects the dynamic nature of health. He states that “a person’s optimum state of health is equivalent to the state of the set of conditions which fulfil or enable a person to work to fulfil his or her realistic chosen and biological potentials” (Seedhouse as cited in Blair 2008, p.18). In other words, an individual will be in a good health condition if he/she is able to use his/her full biological potentials. The definition clearly reflects that fact realistic biological potentials of individuals will be different from one another. From the definition it is also clear that in order to achieve a good health status, a set of conditions needs to be fulfilled. Health promotion is of considerable importance in the modern life because of the high prevalence of many dreadful diseases like AIDS and chronic diseases like diabetes. “Health promotion is the art and science of helping people discover the synergies between their core passions and optimal health, enhancing their motivation to strive for optimal health, and supporting them in changing their lifestyle to move toward a state of optimal health” (Riyan 2011). Simply, the concept of health promotion assists people to exert greater level of control over factors influencing their health and to improve their health status. In order to address the alarmingly growing health challenges such as communicable and non-communicable diseases, epidemic diseases, and emerging new diseases, today health organizations pay particular attention to health promotion. It must be noted that health promotion is not something performed on people but it is done by people either individually or in groups. The major goal of health promotion is to strengthen people’s skills and capabilities that are essential to fight disease threats and hence to improve the overall health of the society. Health promotion generally includes a combination of strategies like improving personal skills, enhancing community level action programmes, and developing health supportive environments. Health promotion is greatly backed up by public policy formulations. Healthcare bodies give specific focus to reshaping health services in way that would boost health promotion. It is observed that many determinants of health including economic, social, and environmental conditions are outside the immediate control of individuals. Therefore, government level attention is given to tackling such external factors. Scholars opine that health promotion is a key strategy for social development because it involves a set of actions to address the factors leading to health inequalities. The concept of health promotion also tries to foster the creation of conditions that would aid people to be healthy and to make healthy choices. My perceptions of health It is identified that even some well popular health definitions consider physical fitness of individuals as the only element determining their health status. In fact, a number of other areas influence the health of an individual. Therefore, such definitions have to be reviewed. From my personal point of view, a holistic approach to health is better to foster health promotion and to enhance patient safety. It is an ancient approach to life. A holistic view on health particularly addresses four major dimensions of health including physical, emotional, intellectual, and social dimensions, arguing that there is a strong relationship between mind, body, and spirit. Undoubtedly, physical well being is a major determinant of an individual’s health status. A physically healthy body is essential to reduce vulnerability to disease pathways. Currently, there are many ways such as treadmills and resistance training machines to improve physical health status. In order to be in well control of thoughts and behaviours, one has to be emotionally as well as spiritually healthy. Such persons would feel good about themselves and can be mentally relaxed. Evidently, emotional health can significantly influence physical wellbeing and therefore this element can improve one’s overall quality of life. In addition, the more a person is intellectually healthy, the more he is able to control his wellbeing. Finally, social support is vital for individual to lead a healthy life and to accomplish long term career goals. This is the reason why social networking is increasingly popular today. In sum, a combination of physical, emotional, intellectual, and social wellbeing forms the holistic view of health. In contrast to many other health definitions that pay attention to only one or two areas of health, a holistic approach focuses on the whole person and the way he interacts with his environment. The holistic health is based on the fact that everything is made of independent parts. In the same way, an individual person is made of independent parts including physical, mental, emotional, and social. Naturally, when one part does not function properly, this issue will affect all the remaining parts. The major factor that distinguishes holistic health approach from other health definitions is its view on health. When other definitions state health as a condition of being free from diseases and infirmity, the holistic approach claims that health is more than just being free from diseases. The holistic view also reflects that health is not just a matter of periodical assessments, but it is an ongoing process. Changing concepts in health and illness Concepts in health and illness have been notably changing for the last 2-3 decades. Today, most of the people are concerned about modern lifestyle health problems and the significance of health promotion; hence, they are willing to make healthy changes to their lifestyle. At the same time, another group of people continue to enjoy their lifestyle practices believing that advancements in modern medicine can compensate such unhealthy lifestyle habits. Evidently, the faster developments in medical field have significantly influenced the concepts in health and illness throughout the last decades. The process of globalisation boosted global trade activities and cross border flow of people; this situation in turn led to highly sensitive issue- environment pollution. Growing population and urbanisation are also some potential contributory factors to environment pollution. The two major forms of pollution are air pollution and water pollution. According to a WHO report, air pollution is a leading cause of many respiratory infections, heart diseases, and lung cancer (WHO). People living in urban areas are more prone to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases (ibid). Water pollution can have a more immediate impact on health. Studies indicate that groundwater is more likely to be contaminated by various sources such as pesticides, sewage, nutrients, or synthetic organics. Another WHO report asserts that unsafe water is one of the major causes of diseases in the Third World. Studies have identified that contaminated water can cause a variety of short-term as well as long term health problems. In addition, dumping of municipal waste dreadfully affects health. A study conducted by Edwin Chandwick supports this view. Through his studies, Chandwick successfully proved the relationship between dirt and diseases (as cited in Ivanov and Blue 2008, p.7). Reports indicate that the municipal waste dumping practices are yet to be controlled in many developing countries. It seems that social and medical attitudes have undergone dramatic changes over the last few decades. Undoubtedly, technology and media played a crucial role in this transformation. To illustrate, today a vast majority of youngsters maintain the habit of smoking. The surprising fact is that most of them are highly educated and well aware of the dreadful impacts of smoking including lung cancer and heart diseases. However, they are still not ready to give up the habit. Admittedly, the anti-heroic notions created by the mass media have significantly contributed to the smoking habit. Similarly, individual’s medical attitudes have also been changed in an insensible manner. For instance, prescription drug abuse is a growing problem even in highly developed states of Europe. With the unimaginable developments in technology, it seems that people began to believe that there is a treatment for every illness. Despite the few negative effects discussed above, advancements in knowledge and technology have been valuably influencing health and concepts of health for the last 150 years. It is identified that notable improvements in screening and diagnostic tests have greatly reduced the rate premature deaths and improved the rate of curability. Such developments have benefited people to identify their health problems or diseases in early states and hence to seek treatment immediately. For instance, testicular cancer can be cured completely if it is diagnosed in its preliminary phases. Evidently, well developed treatment techniques also have a better influence on health. Finally, the widespread popularity of media is effective to make people informed about the causes, symptoms, treatment, and prognosis of various diseases in spite of the few negative consequences. In addition, media greatly help health authorities to provide prior warning to the public and recommend them possible precautionary measures in case of spread of epidemic diseases. Significance of epidemiological aspects Evidently, epidemiology has a crucial role to play in identifying and explaining the occurrence of diseases in a community. Epidemiological studies are necessary to obtain a clear view of various factors, such as newly reported cases, deaths, and cure rates, concerning a particular disease in a community. The two key aspects of epidemiology are drawing disease causal chain and framing health strategies. These two aspects are of great significance in disease prevention and intervention. In order to effectively prevent a disease and its further complications, it is vital to identify and address its actual causes. It is observed that many root causes of many health problems are linked to a complex chain of events over time, comprising of “socioeconomic factors, environmental and community conditions, and individual behaviour” (WHO, Global health risks). Hence, effective drawing of causal chain is particularly important to gain many entry points of intervention (ibid). Drawing disease causal chain can be very effective in intervening HIV and alcohol related health problems. As a result of the notable advancements in HIV- related epidemiology, today people are well aware of all the potential causes of AIDS such as unsafe sexual intercourse, contaminated blood transfusion, hypodermic needles, and mother to child transmission during pregnancy. In addition, situations that might lead to alcohol addiction have also been well defined. Undoubtedly, formulating health strategies to fight disease conditions is also crucial to effective disease prevention and health promotion. Epidemiologists give particular attention to framing health strategies that would reduce the prevalence of HIV and alcohol related health issues to a great extent. Generally, those health strategies would focus on particular communities. For instance, community based awareness programmes are organised to fight AIDS and alcohol addiction issues. In case of AIDS, epidemiologists particularly identify the main cause of this dreadful disease in the community and frame health strategies specifically to address the identified key cause. Similarly, they identify the major groups that are prone to alcohol addiction and thereby develop intervention strategies to curb the issue. In short, it can be stated that the two aspects of epidemiology identified can have a significant influence on health promotion. Many global level researches indicate that drawing disease causal chain and developing health strategies have notably contributed to health promotion, particularly in the area of HIV. References Bircher, J. (2005) “Towards a dynamic definition of health and disease”. Med Health Care Philos, 8(3):335-41. Blair, S. E. E. Et al. “Occupational perspectives on mental health and wellbeing”. In Occupational Therapy and Mental Health. (Eds.) J. Creek J & Loguher, L. (2008). US: Elsevier Health Sciences. Ivanov, L. L & Blue, C. L. (2008) Public Health Nursing: Leadership, Policy, & Practice. US: Cengage Learning. Riyan, M. (2011) Definition of Health Promotion. Health promotion Advocate [online] available at [accessed 22 March 2013]. Saracci, R. (1997) “The World Health Organisation needs to reconsider its definition of health”. BMJ 3 (14), pp.1400-1410. WHO. Air quality and health. [online] available at [accessed 22 March 2013]. WHO. Global health risks. [online document] available at [accessed 22 March 2013]. Read More