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

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