Health and the Individual

Health, Wellness, and Illness

• Health: a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
• Wellness: how a person feels about their health
• The seven forms of wellness
  • Physical- diet and exercise
  • Emotional-ability to understand themselves, how to deal with stress
  • Intellectual- able to make informed decisions
  • Spiritual- varies from person to person
  • Social- the ability to communicate with others
  • Environmental- one’s relationship with the environment, being eco friendly
  • Occupational- feeling secure, valued, and confident in their workplace
• Illness: the presence of disease; how a person feels about their health
• Disease: a condition with a person’s bodily or mental function which is not normal
  • May also describe a group of symptoms
  • Remission: no sign of disease
• Disability: deviation from normal function

Health Models

• Medical model
  • It emphasizes diagnosis and treatment of disease but may exclude prevention.
  • Focusses on the physical process of a disease
• Holistic model
  • A concept in medical practice that considers all aspects of a person's needs
  • Consists of prevention, treatment, and management of illness or disease
• Traditional health
  • Attention aimed at treating symptoms with drugs/surgery.
  • The focus is on finding the underlying cause of the symptoms
• Holistic Health
  • Personal responsibility patient is given a recommendation and it is up to them that they get better
• Indigenous Wholistic Theory for health
  • Considers mental, physical, cultural, and spiritual wellbeing
  • East: shows spirit and vision
  • South: show the value and importance of relationships
  • North: shows healing movement and actions that guide practice
• Wellness model
  • Focuses on assuming responsibility for their health and progression over time.
  • Not taking self-imposed risks: smoking, drinking, drugs, obesity, and a sedimentary lifestyle

Changing Perceptions of Health and Wellness

• A positive mindset can help a person deal more effectively with stress and fight disease
• Historically, people if they got sick went to the doctor, got medication, and got better without participating in their treatment plan
• Since the 1990s people have had access to information to take control of the treatments

Psychology of Health Behavior

• Transtheoretical
  • People who are in the process of change could be
  • Pre-contemplation (don’t want to change)
  • Contemplation
  • Preparation
  • Action
  • Maintenance
  • Relapse
  • Termination
• Social-ecological model
  • Many influences in one's life shape health (home, family, school, sports, work)
• Protection Motivation Theory
  • Fear that they will get sick, so they take action to prevent it
• Health belief model
  • If they believe that it will help, they are more prone to do it
  • Assuming they do not like the negative outcome

Health Illness Continuum

• Continuum: is a method using a straight line with an opposing state at each end
• Ones who society may say have poor health could be closer to optimum health depending on how they view their illness and if they have accepted it yet
• Sick Role Behavior: when people get sick their personality changes
  • Remember when dealing with patients this is not who they are
  • Be patient with them; they are also tired and frustrated
• Self-Imposed Risk
• Many people participate in risky behavior including:
  • Unhealthy diet
  • Sunbathing
  • Inactivity
  • Drug abuse
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Speeding or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
  • Driving without a seatbelt

The Health of Canadians Today

• Canadians are living longer now than ever
  • The overage life expectancy is 80.7 years
• Currently, the leading cause of death is cancer, and the second is heart disease
• 1 in 2 Canadians are expected to be diagnosed with cancer