Concept Of Health
Introduction
The state of one's health is reflective of an individual's ability to meet life's challenges and maintain his or her capacity for optimal functioning. This requires the various aspects of one's makeup i.e. mental, physical and biochemical, to maintain a level of functioning that has a positive influence and support for one another.
Definition of health
- The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, 1947).
- The WHO clarified the definition of health in 1986 as ‘a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities.’
- Health is “being structurally and functionally whole or sound.” Also, health is a state that encompasses both the health of individuals and groups, and human health is the ability to reflect on oneself, symbolize experience, and communicate with others.(Dorothea Orem)
Concept Of Health
- An understanding of health is the basis of all the health care.
- Health is not perceived the same way by all the members of a community including various professional groups (like biomedical scientists, social scientists, health administrators, ecologists) giving rise to confusion about the concept of health.
- Health has evolved over the centuries from the concept of individual concern to a worldwide social goal.
The various changing concepts of health as follows-
- Biomedical concept
- Ecological concept
- Psychosocial concept
- Holistic concept
1. Biomedical concept
- Traditionally health has been considered as an absence of the diseases and if someone was free from disease, then that person was considered healthy.
- This concept is known as biomedical concept, and it is based on the “germ theory of the disease.”
- Health means “absence of disease.”
- The medical profession viewed the human body as a machine and disease is an outcome of the breakdown of the machine, and one of the doctor’s tasks was to repair the machine.
- This concept has minimized the role of the environment, social and cultural determinants of the health.
- Developments in medical and social sciences led to the conclusion that the biomedical concept of health was inadequate.
2. Ecological Concept -
- Deficiencies in the biomedical concept gave rise to other concepts. •
- The ecologists put forward the concept of ecological concept.
- Ecologists viewed health as a dynamic equilibrium between man and his environment, and the disease as a maladjustment of the human organism to environment.
3. Psychosocial Concept
- Advances in social sciences showed that health is not only a biomedical phenomenon, but one which is influenced by social, psychological, cultural, economic and political factors of the people concerned.
- These factors must be taken into consideration in defining and measuring health.
- Thus health is both a biological and social phenomenon.
4. Holistic Concept
- The holistic model is a synthesis of all the above concepts(Biomedical + Ecological + Psychosocial)
- Holistic concept recognizes the strength of social, economic, political and environmental influences on health.
- It has been variously described as multidimensional process involving the wellbeing of the person as a whole.
- The emphasis is on the promotion and protection of health.
- The holistic approach implies that all sectors of the society have an effect on health, in particular, agriculture, animal husbandry, food, industry, education, housing, public works and other sectors.