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Overview of Health and Health Promotion
Definition of Health
The World Health Organization defines Health ” as a state of complete physical, mental and social
well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
Wellness
“It is a more active state, oriented toward maximizing the potential of the individual, regardless of
his or her state of health”.
“Illness”
Most people have a medical view of illness as a disease, which is
a pathology affecting an organ or body system.
Traditional definitions would encompass traumatic injury and psychiatric disorders as well.
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Concepts of Health
Health is a relative not an absolute concept.
A person can move from one category to the other from sick- well again in an absolute sense. So
both health and illness are relative and exist in varying degrees.
• Degrees of illness
A person with terminal cancer or end stage of renal disease is classified as “very ill”. While one
recovering from
a surgery (cholecystectomy) is “less ill” another one with infections like mononuclessis as “mildly
ill”.
• Degrees of Wellness
A person with chronic arthritis may be classified as “mildly well” if functions minimally with his
disease, while an old person who is functioning at an optimal level of wellness is classified as “well”.
• Health – Focused Individual
In nursing, we consider both the physical and psychological needs of each individual patient.
Maslow (1968) developed a hierarchy of basic human needs to consider which needs of
a person are the most important and more basic than others.
• Levels of Needs
The five levels of needs with being most basic are as follow
Physiological needs
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Safety & security needs
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Love & belonging needs
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Self – esteem needs
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Self – actualization needs
• Health – Focused Family
Friedman & associates (2003) identified the importance of family – centered nursing care based on 4
rationales
 Family is composed of interdependent members who affect one another.
 A strong relationship exist between family
& health status of its members.
 Levels of health of each member within a family can be significantly improved through health
promotion activities.
 Illness of one family member may suggest the possibility of the same problem in others.
• Health – Focused Community
Community based is centered on individual and family health care needs.
The health care provided within a community must be culturally competent and family – centered.
Health - focused community are employed in different kinds of practice settings, including home
health care, primary health centers, schools, occupational etc..
Disease prevention involves all activities that avoiding the occurrence of illness or injury. E.g.
Immunization, enforcement of seat belt use.
Disease protection involves
all efforts to shield the people from illness and from harmful effects
of elements in the environment. E.g.
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Physical agents such as cigarette smoking
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Chemical agents such as dust & fumes
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Psychological agents such as stress
Health promotion refers to all activities that maintain , enhance and increase the community’s
level of wellness e.g. recreational facilities in the community, adequate nutrition, safe water,
encourage healthy lifestyle, family planning services.
• Health Education
It is a process that informs, motivates, and helps people to adopt and maintain healthy practices
and lifestyles, enables them to make informed decisions, to cope more effectively with temporary or
long term alterations in health and lifestyle, & to assume greater responsibility
for health.