Understanding health

AAOHN Journal, 1997

The purpose of the study was to discover what the concept of health means to the participants and to determine how an organization can assist its members in developing and maintaining their notion of health. The participants for this study were drawn from the employees at a post secondary educational institution. Tape recorded interviews were transcribed by the researcher, and the transcripts were analyzed for common topics and predominant themes. Imbedded in the data were four themes that provided an over arching conceptual framework from which to view health and health promoting activities: well being as a broad definition of health; the concept of balance as a prime contributor to health; the notion of self efficacy in determining one's health, and the value of caring as a significant determinant of health. Findings of the study have significance for individual health, organizations and health, health promoters, and further research.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the level of maturity of the concept of health in the nursing discipline. METHOD: The four principles of Morse and colleagues were used to evaluate the level of maturity of the health concept—epistemological, logical, pragmatical, and linguistical. FINDINGS: This evaluation suggests that the concept of health in nursing is immature, defined inconsistently, and with different instruments. CONCLUSION: Health is a central concept for nursing. Additional concept development and clarification are needed. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: For the concept of health to be conceptualized, it is important that nurses have consensus regarding the definition of health. The nursing discipline should define health in a manner that is consistent with its philosophical presuppositions. Further, it should be measurable, empirically based, and capture the outcomes that are sensitive to the nursing interventions. Eman Tariq Alslman, RN, MSN, Muayyad M. Ahmad, RN, PhD, Manar Ali Bani Hani, RN, MSN, and Huda Mohammad Atiyeh, RN, MSN Eman Tariq Alslman, RN, MSN, is a PhD

2018

Pan African Medical Journal

For many years the definition of 'health' has remained unchanged as a narrow concept, encompassing physical wellbeing from a medical context. This somewhat focused definition has attracted criticism from individuals and professional bodies alike. Recent attempts have been made to redefine health, each offering an alternative viewpoint from sociological, environmental, societal and economic standpoints. We summarize and contextualize these definitions and provide an alternative, new, all-encompassing definition of health.

2017

In nowadays, it is generally understood that human health lies beyond the physical body, which had been the primary focus of medicine for centuries. In 1941, Sigerist wrote, "health is not simply the absence of disease: it is something positive, a joyful attitude toward life, and a cheerful acceptance of the responsibilities that life puts upon the individual (Sigerist, 1941). This development in the understanding of health was underlined by the actual state of human health in the mid-20 th century, when the human population struggled less with communicable diseases and more with lifestyle related condition. The modern approach to health aimed to clarify the traditional understanding of it that emerged over several centuries during which people collected health-related knowledge in the form of folk medicine treatments. The aim of the theoretical study is to give a broader background and perspective on the term health, examining it through the lens of Kinanthropology, approachin...

International Journal of Science and Research, 2023

The sense of health has advanced over time. In 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health linking fitness to well-being, in phases of physical, mental, and social well-being, and no longer the absence of disease and infirmity. The WHO definition has been criticized as-(i) static, (ii) morbidity's changing styles and (iii) definition's operationalization. This paper attempts to understand the enlarged concept of health through use of those words, objective and subjective related inter-objective and intersubjective. The understanding of health has changed substantially with reconceptualizing health on a continuum rather than as a static state, and adding existential health to physical, mental, and social well-being. Enlarged concept of disease and the binomial health-disease can be better understood under the distend concept of health.

2014

Tribal world of belief and practices has been constructed and surrounded by their parochial perception and action of natural and supernatural entity. They find themselves closely knit with the web of these two entities in every sphere of life. Perception about health and health seeking behaviour of the tribal people obviously is intertwined with the interaction of these two entities. The traditional healers act as the medium between man, nature and supernatural entity and provide spiritual security to the tribal people. The extent of meaningful acceptance of modern medicines and health care facilities among tribal people has been remained a mater of debate among social scientist and policy planners. It has been argued that lack of emotional content and spiritual security in modern health care system caused the failure of the system among the tribal people. The present article is based on a primary field study conducted among the Santhals of Orissa that shows the nature, extent and c...

Oxford University Press eBooks, 2001

The content of this book, with its aspiring title, gives a chance for those in the fields of social care and health, the opportunity to test their knowledge of things past, consolidate information about the present and anticipate with interest and without

In 1948 The World Health Organization (WHO) elaborated a Concept of Health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." 1. Since that affirmation, there are social factors inserted into such a concept. Until then, health was considered under the ancient phrase of the Roman poet Juvenal mens sana in corpore sano 2 , with some other affirmations as that one of Leriche in the 1930s, "health is life lived in the silence of the organs." 3. By the way, the word 'silence' was appropriated to the context of totalitarian governments in those days. However, we are not sure of the correlation between the affirmation and the repressive condition. After World War II, it was necessary to promote a politics of 'welfare' to people who suffered more under that conflict. So did the countries that had more losings under the War. In this line, WHO elaborated a concept of health as a kind of 'well-being,' introducing the social factor in health. Before that, health was just individual. With the social condition, we can perceive that collectivity crosses over individuals, and individuals cross over collectivity. That social vision benefits several individuals and communities beyond selfish thinking about health. Following the WHO definition, we can see that physical well-being corresponds to an 'objective' process. On the other hand, mental well-being is related to a 'subjective' process. It is essential to understand the use of these two words, 'objective' and 'subjective.' In the last decades of the twentieth century, 'objective' was more and more valorized, and the opposite happened to 'subjective'. The word objective is related to 'object' and subjective to 'subject'. So, society became very pragmatic, and a kind of 'objectification' of human being occurred together with dehumanization in medicine. So, we intend to use those words, objective and subjective related to interobjective and intersubjective to better understand the amplified concept of health.