PCH Chapter 1 Key Terms

Empowerment

When you take more control over your own health choices and feel confident making decisions

that improve your well-being.

Health

Not just being free from illness, but your overall physical, mental, and social well-being.

Health Promotion

Things people do to help improve health and prevent problems before they start, like education,

habits, and safer environments.

High-Risk Behavior

Behaviors that make it more likely you’ll get hurt or develop health problems, like smoking,

unsafe sex, or reckless driving.

Holistic Health

Looking at health as a whole picture instead of just one part, including physical, mental,

emotional, social, and sometimes spiritual health.

Life Span

How long a person lives from birth to death.

Morbidity

How much illness or disease exists in a person or population.

Mortality

The number of deaths in a group of people or from a specific cause.

Nontraditional-age Students

College students who are usually older than 24 and may have taken a different path before

college, like working or military service.

Personalized Medicine

Medical care that is adjusted to fit a person’s genetics, lifestyle, and specific health needs.

Prochaska's Stages of Change

A model that explains how people change behavior over time: not thinking about it, thinking

about it, getting ready, doing it, and keeping it going (sometimes people relapse too).

Risk Factor

Anything that increases your chances of having a health problem later on.

Traditional-age Students

Students who go to college right after high school, usually around 18 to 24 years old.

Wellness

An active process of making choices that improve your overall health and quality of life.

Preventive or Prospective Medicine

Healthcare focused on stopping disease before it starts instead of only treating it after it happens.