DISCUSS HOW THE CONCEPT OF “HEALTH” HAS CHANGED OVERTIME NRS 429
DISCUSS HOW THE CONCEPT OF “HEALTH” HAS CHANGED OVERTIME NRS 429
Topic 3 DQ 1
Discuss how the concept of “health” has changed overtime. Discuss how the concept has evolved to include wellness, illness, and overall well-being. How has health promotion changed over time? Why is it important that nurses implement health promotion interventions based on evidence-based practice?
The concept of health has changed greatly over the course of past few years, and it is important that we as nurses keep up to date with the latest evidence based practices to stay current in our practice. In the early days the incredibly fast spread of disease was attributed to lack of sanitation and cleanliness, and contaminated water, in those days the concept of “health” was essentially defined as anyone who was disease free and did not have any ailments. As we fast forward to current times the definition of health had widely evolved to become a individuals identity and how they hold their place in society, as a functional member of society, which includes factors like physical mental and spiritual wellness. It is important that nurses use evidence based practice because those methods incorporate proven scientific methods and studies to show the effectiveness of health promotion.
Grand Canyon University (Ed). (2018). Health promotion: Health & wellness across the continuum. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/
You are right about the change in the concept of health, diseases and ill-health. It has evolved from the idea that diseases are caused by the gods or poor sanitation to what we now know. Sickness is not just caused by injury or diseases. Mental health is a form of sickness as you said. Cleanliness, immunization, healthy diets can help promote health. As nurses we must also consider the other causes of ill-health, for instance unhealthy life styles like smoking, conditions that some individuals find themselves which is totally not of their making and is beyond their control. This is the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). As nurses we must educate patients and the community, and assist them accordingly.
The term health has evolved over many years. Nurses stay updated on their scope of practice through continuing education hours, courses, updated evidence-based practices, and board of nursing standards based on a state of residence. Education is a priority to improve one’s health. In the early 20th century, health was defined by sanitation and hygiene practices to decrease the amount of disease spread to others. Today’s meaning of health includes an individuals physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Health is overall well-being rather than disease-focused. Health promotion encourages others to take charge of their health conditions and promotes appropriate interventions to a patients according to their barriers.
· Oluchi Osueke
replied toTajinder Singh
Oct 15, 2022, 9:22 PM
Programs that promote health and prevent disease focus on keeping people healthy. The goal of health promotion programs is to get people and communities involved in and empowered to choose healthy behaviors and make changes that make it less likely that they will get chronic diseases and other diseases. The World Health Organization defines health promotion as: enables individuals to gain more control over their health. It encompasses a wide range of social and environmental interventions that aim to address and prevent the underlying causes of illness rather than just treat and cure, thereby enhancing and safeguarding individuals’ health and quality of life.
· Amber Jones
replied toTajinder Singh
Oct 16, 2022, 11:29 AM
Tajinder,
Yes the fast spread of diseases were factors of not being clean and unsanitary. I’m so glad society has zeroed in on being more sanitary. Especially in healthcare. We as nurses could very well be the main individual spreading the disease if we are not practicing good hand hygiene and standard precautions. Very good post!
· Kate Famularo
replied toTajinder Singh
Oct 16, 2022, 9:10 PM
To think that “health” was defined as anyone who was disease free and did no have any ailments, we have definitely evolved, like you mentioned. We have come so far, The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. I can’t help but wonder what “health” will look like or be defined as in 20-30 years from now. As nurses we will continue to evolve with the changes and change our practices as times change.
Reference:
Mabel Onoh
Oct 13, 2022, 5:40 AM
The concept of health has evolved from some specific beliefs whereby prayer and sacrifices were made to gods and deities to achieve health, and diseases were attributed to the actions of demons and supernatural forces. Hippocrates brought about the first major break in health by separating “religious beliefs and establish the relationship between environmental/personal cleanliness and the origin of disease…. and that health is a product of environmental and behavioral factors” (Badesh, et.al., 2017). Hippocrates believed that disease resulted from imbalances between four body fluids. Galen, a physician in the first century BCE expanded the Hippocratic definition by considering the patient as a whole, including mental and emotional state. Through several scientific discoveries, healthcare delivery methods kept changing till the formation of World Health Organization (WHO). WHO described “health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO, n.d.). The concept of health keeps evolving and is being updated based on medical science scholars and research. There have been other definitions of health by many different scholars. J Bircher, an expert in economics argues that health and disease definition should be changed to “a dynamic state of well-being, characterized by an individual’s physical, mental and societal potential to meet the demands of life unique to the individual’s age, culture and personal responsibility” (Bades, et.el., 2017). With the invention and administration of vaccines, prevention of illness took the center stage, and the (WHO) focus was on health promotion, and the definition of health became viewed as “accumulation of factors such as physical, mental, and spiritual wellness” (Falkner, 2018). The emphasis now is on health and wellness promotion, and prevention of disease.
Health promotion is defined as “the process of enabling people to exert control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health” (Nutbeam, 1998). The focus is on engaging in activities that promote health, and by nurses educating individuals, families, communities, and organizations on implementation of health promotion interventions based on evidence -based practice. It is important that nurses only implement health promotion interventions based on evidence-based practice so that outcome can be replicated.
References:
Badash, I.,et.al. (2017). Redefining Health: The Evolution of Health Ideas from Antiquity to the Era of Value-Based Care. Cureus, 9(2), e1018. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.1018
Faulkner, A. (2018). Health Promotion in Nursing Care. In Health promotion: Health & wellness continuum. Chapter 2). Grand Canyon University. https://lc.gcumedia.com/nrs429vn/health-promotion-health-and-wellness-across-the-continuum/v1.1/#/chapter/2
Nutbeam, D. (1998) Evaluating Health Promotion—Progress, Problems and solutions, Health Promotion International, Volume 13, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 27–44, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/13.1.27
