Healthy Lifestyles and Health Communities: Public Health Concepts

Welcome: Led by Dr. Gloria Clarke for Week $2$ LEC on Healthy Lifestyles and Health Communities.
Cultural Reference: "Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi"—with collective contribution, the people thrive.
Tikanga: Key classroom values include being respectful, patient, forgiving, and accepting of discomfort during learning.

Concept: A mental thought or notion formed by combining characteristics (e.g., "drive-through immunizations").
Construct: A sociological idea or theory developed over time within a society (e.g., health systems, culture, or laws).
Perspective: A point of view informed by one's worldview, upbringing, and position in society.

Health:
- Medical Model: Defined by the absence of illness or disease.
- WHO ( $1948$ ) Definition: A state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing.
Hauora: A holistic Māori perspective valuing the interconnection between the physical and meta-physical, including generations and whenua (land).
Wellbeing: Defined by the $1986$ Ottawa Charter as a resource for everyday life and a means to live well and participate in society.

Social Determinants of Health (SDoH): Non-medical factors (genetics, ethnicity, housing, income, education) that determine health outcomes.
Equality vs. Equity:
- Equality: Distributing tools evenly.
- Equity: Providing custom tools to address specific inequalities.
- Justice: Fixing the system to provide equal access to opportunities for all.

Western Models: Biomedical, Biopsychosocial (integrating physiological/psychological/social factors), and Salutogenesis (focusing on factors that cause health).
Māori Models: Te Whare Tapa Whā, Te Pae Māhutonga, and the Meihana Model.
Pacific Models: Fonofale (Samoan), Fonua (Tongan), Kakala (Tongan), Te Vaka Atafaga (Tokelauan), and Tivaevae (Cook Island).

Public Health: A discipline focused on protecting and improving population health through organized efforts and policy.
Key Sub-disciplines: Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Environmental Health, Health Economics, and Social Work.
Healthcare Ecosystem:
- Primary Care: Direct community access (GPs, dentists, pharmacists).
- Secondary Care: Specialized medical services often in hospital settings (cardiologists, psychiatrists).
- Tertiary Care: Complex inpatient services (neurosurgery, cancer management).

Acute vs. Chronic: Acute conditions develop suddenly; chronic conditions develop slowly over time.
Morbidity and Mortality: Morbidity refers to being unhealthy; mortality refers to the number of deaths in a population.
Medicalisation: The process of defining human conditions (e.g., shyness, menopause) as medical problems requiring intervention.
Health Promotion: Enabling people to increase control over their health through education, behavior change, and supportive environments.
Workshops: Used as both a strategy (to educate/engage) and a tool (to deliver specific messages or practice skills).

Concept Brainstorming: Groups identified health concepts without devices to establish a baseline vocabulary.
Concept Mapping: A collaborative activity to pause and map the relationships between more than $20$ introduced concepts, including keywords and examples.