Health Studies - Personal Health

Definition of Health

“Health is a state of complete physical, social and mental well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (WHO 1946)

Dimentions of Health

Physical Health, Social Health, Emotional Health, Mental Health, Spiritual Health

Determinants of Health

External Determinants: Physical Environment, Political Environment, Socio-cultural Environment.

Internal Determiants: Biological Determiants, Behavioural Determinants.

What is Health Promotion?

Activities aimed at improving health and preventing disease by enabling people to increase control over and improve their health.

Health Promotion Methods

• Legislation

• Development of gudielines and standards

• Advertisements

• Awarness Days

• Community Programs and Initiatives

• Funding

What is Social Justice?

Social justice means that the rights of all people in our community are considered in a faor and equitable manner.

Targetting the marginalised and disadvanatged groups of people in our society.

Aims to reduce the level of health inequalities in Australia.

Social Determinants of Health

• Economic Stability (Emplyment, Income, Expenses, Dept, Medical Bills, Support)

• Neighborhood and Physical Environment (Housing, Transport, Safety, Parks, Playgrounds, Walkability)

• Education (Literacy, Language, Early Childhood Education, VET, Higher Education)

• Food (Hunger, Access to healthy options)

• Community and Social Context (Social Integration, Support Systems, Community Engagement, Discrimination)

• Health Care System (Health Coverage, Porvider Availability, Provider Linguistic and Cultural Competency, Quality of Care)

The Three Interralated Principles of Social Justice

• Diversity

• Equity

• Supportive Environments

Defining The Three Principles of Social Justice

• Diversity - involves recognising the wide range of; Beliefs, Values, Attitudes, Behaviours, of people and looking at health issues from differing viewpoints.

• Equity - Disadvantaged groups are targeted to improve their quality of life and achieve minimum stanards of living. All people in the community should have access to fundamental recources, and governments should implement laws and policies that ensure no person is disadvantaged in their ability to access such resources.

• Supportive Environments - Governments and organisations work collaborativley to support and allow all individuals and/or groups to be able to achieve good health.

Reasons for Inequalities

• Racism and discrimination

• Low socio-economic status

• High levels of unemployment

• Poor housing and living conditions

• Poor nutrition - lack of access to healthy food

• Substance abuse and misuse

Health Literacy

Being able to acess, understand, appraise and use information and services in ways that promote and maintain good health and well-being.

Also includes the ability to think critically about, as well as the ability to interact and express personal and societal needs for promoting health.

Health Status Indicators

• Life Expenctancy: Years of life remaining.

• Prevalance: Rate of a particular disease present in a population at a given time.

• Morbitity: Ill health in an individual and levels of Ill health within a population.

• Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY): Measure of burden of disease. One DALY is one year of healthy life lost due to illness. The sum of years of life lost due to premature death and the years lived with disability.

• Mortality: Number of deaths in a population in a given period.

• Self-Assessed Health Status: An individuals own opinion about how they feel about their health, their state of mind, and their life in general.

• Maternal Mortality: Death of a mother during pregnancy, childbirth, or within six weeks of delivery.

• Under-5 Mortality Rate: Number of deaths of children under five years of age per 1000 live births.

• Infant Mortality: Rate of deaths of infants before their first birthday, usually expressed per 1000 live births.

• Burden of Disease: Measures the total imapct of disease and injury. Specifically the gap between current health status and the ideal situation where everyone lives a long life, free from disease and disability.

• Health Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE): Average length of time an individual at a specific age can expect to live in full health, that is, time lived without the health consequences of disease or injury.

What is Risk Taking?

A person making a decision with no certainty of the outcome. Which can expose them to the chance of loss or injury or gain.

All risks involve your health to some extent.

What Purpose Does Risk-Taking Have?

Risk-taking is part of growing up and helps us to learn where our limitations are. Often experimenting with a new activity or bahviour which means we do not know with certainty what the outcome will be. Hence risk is created.

For adolescents, risk taking is often a way to establish identity, impress peers and reduce parental control.

Postitive Risks

• The individual makes a consious decision to take a risk, its a voluntary decision.

• Is aware of the possible