Tutorial 3 - What is Health? Flashcards
What is the WHO definition of health 1948?
”A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
Is then anyone completely healthy?
Absolutely not.
What is normality based on?
Statistics: the normal distribution. Think of the bell curve.
What else can normality be based on?
Culture. If certain cultures have norms then this may dictate whether someone is normal or not.
Is ‘normal’ set in stone?
Definitely not. If we take peak flows as an example, someone’s normal may be predicted as 630, but the result they usually get is 720 - so the ‘normal’ varies between each patient.
Give the main professional definition of health.
The absence of disease/illness.
List the 5 characteristics that give a positive view of health that David Seedhouse has so wonderfully given us.
- Health as an ideal state 2. Health as physical and mental fitness 3. Health as a commodity 4. Health as personal strength and ability 5. Health as basis of personal potential
Does the definition of health vary for different people? (e.g. a teen compared with an OAP)
Yes. A teen may have broken his leg but still call himself healthy. An elderly lady may be unable to bend over but may consider herself healthy for her age.
Does social classes effect people’s view of health?
Qui. Lower class people may view ‘healthy’ as having the ability to birth children, cope and look after others. ‘Women of higher class have a more multidimensional view of health’ Baxter 1995
How do men/women view health differently?
Women may find the concept of health more interesting
Give an example of how cultural differences effect views of healthy.
Afro-carribean people are prone to hypertension. So their understanding of High BP is different to UK nationals - the values are lower in UK.
Summarise why health is viewed differently.
Health is conceived differently depending on whether you are a professional or not, where you live, what circumstances you find yourself living in, how old you are and whether you are a man or a woman.
What issue may come up in consultation when discussing ‘health’ with a patient?
Our view as a medical professional is likely to differ from a patients pre-concieved ideas that they are ‘healthy’. For instance they may be asymptomatic for hypertension so assume that they are healthy - but according to our WHO definition (1948) they are technically unhealthy…..
What are the 4 factors that influence the lay beliefs about health?
Age
Social Class
Gender
Culture
