Biomedical and social model of health Health is “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity” (WHO, 1946). Health can be defined as an “absence of disease” in the modern western world and is found in medical documentation, government reports and legislation. (Waugh et.al 2008). There are two competing models of health and they are often referred to as the biomedical and social models. The differences between the biomedical and social model of health is that biomedical focuses on the cure for treating and diagnosing treatment for ill patients while the social model focuses on the origins of the illness rather than the cure.
The level of wellness or health is, in part, determined by the ability to deal with and defend against stress. Health is on a continuum with movements between a state of optimum well being and illness which is defined as degrees of disharmony. It is determined by physiological, psychological, socio-cultural, spiritual and developmental stages variables.’ There are different types of models of health, the first model is about positive and negative health, positive health is a positive attitude towards health, so the person achieves a healthy state to keeping fit and healthy ob their own and make sure they do this themselves. Negative health is when the person doesn’t believe in looking after himself or herself, and doesn’t have a positive attitude for looking after their well being and health, but they are ‘healthy’ they just don’t have a good attitude towards looking after their
Although, many sociologists engage in conflict when deciding on a definition of ‘healthy’ they tend to predominantly agree with the WHO’s definition. This concept ‘absence of disease’, can be seen as a negative concept of health as it is concerned with an individual’s physical, intellectual, social and emotional wellbeing. Due to the WHO’s definition many health care provisions have taken to using holistic methods of treatment in order to address the needs of the ‘whole’ person. The biomedical model is one approach to health and illness that sociologists use. This model identifies health as the ‘absence of disease’ with specific focus on diagnosing and curing individuals with illnesses such as cancer.
Assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating a Health Promotion activity Introduction: This essay will give a systematic account of a Health Promotion (HP) activity, which was focused on the awareness of stress and its prevention. It will analyse the assessment of the health need and how the activity was planned, implemented and then evaluated to determine if the anticipated outcome was achieved. The World Health Organization (WHO, 1948) defined health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. In 1986, it added that health is a resource for everyday life, and not the objective of living, a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities (WHO, 1986). However, Seedhouse (1986) suggested that health can best be described as providing the foundation by which human achievement can be attained; it is an instrument, agency, method, or course of action employed to attain some object or bring about some benefiting results, rather than a fixed condition or status, to which someone might aspire so that, with the appropriate resources, people are more easily enabled to achieve their potential.
The W.H.O’s definition of health and well-being would suggest that someone who holds a negative definition of health would not be healthy if all their requirements are not being addressed. A ‘positive’ concept of health refers to the aspect of physical, emotional, intellectual and social well-being of a person in terms of being free from ay ailments or diseases. So in addition to this a person with a disability who leads a full like and is content may be regarded as ‘healthy’. The positive definition of health is generally vague in medical terms; it seems to imply that to be healthy has a lot to do with general quality of life. Alternative health and complementary therapy practitioners tend to use the positive definition of health as a part of their practice much more than traditional medical practitioners.
The World Health Organisation 1955 (WHO) describes heath as “Not the mere absence of disease but total physical, mental and social wellbeing”. interactionists would argue that if health consists in the absence of disease, people could be seen as being healthy if they do not have a disease. This would be irrespective of how they feel and whether they considered themselves to be healthy. The problem with this view of health is that it assumes that there is a norm for all bodies. It also tends to rely upon a diagnosis being made, most probably by a member of the medical profession.
Philosophy Assignment Template Name: HealthMany people believe that health is about being free from any and all disease. It's much more then deciding if you have cancer or not. Health is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being. A person can be disease free, but if they are having mental or social issues, then they truly are not healthy. A person without any disease may feel unhealthy and simply have the perception of having a disease.
Models of Health According to the World Health Organisation, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (World Health Organisation, 2011) There are two main models of health which reflect different perspectives. These models are known as the social model of health and the medical model of health. The medical model of health focuses more on the cure for an illness, whereas the social model of health concentrates on the origins of the illness rather than the cure such as class, gender and ethnicity. (HSC, 2009) In the medical model of health, the main focus is on a person functioning correctly physically and defines bad health and illness as the presence of disease. The medical model looks at the body as a machine, where if it were to break down, a doctor would take on the role of an engineer and attempt to fix it.
Holistic Medicine believes in the optimal acquisition of all these aspects of life. This system of health care refutes the separation of mind and body as considered and advocated in the traditional medicine. Holistic Medicine looks at mind, body and spirit as sub-parts, which form the person; a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. In other words, a whole (person) made up of its parts (mind, body and spirit) is greater in value than the individual sum of these parts. The Holistic Medicine intends to restore health and wellness to the person as a whole, rather than rectifying the diseased part alone.
A.M.Clow Defining health, illness and disability. This assignment will be based on key sociological concepts of Health and illness. Explain what is meant by the terms health, illness and disability: People usually perceive their day to day 'normality' as healthy and when their body differs form this they may consider themselves 'ill' The definition of healthy, in regard to what it says in the dictionary is 'in a good physical or mental condition; in good health' Oxford dictionary (2011) Illness is often seen as when you have something wrong with you, either physically or mentally. Examples of illnesses can include 'the flu', 'Meningitis' or 'Anorexia' . A disability is often regarded as a state of which, something is wrong with either your physical or mental well being, and this disables you from doing normal everyday activities.