Welcome…..
• Please take a packet of cards….sit at the
table that matches your color paper clip.
• Don’t forget to initial that you are here
today! (clipboard = attendance)
Let’s consider the term: HEALTH
• Even though many of us feel we know
what the word “health” means, we can find
it a difficult concept to put into words.
• This is why, in your professional career
and personal life, you will find so many
different definitions.
“Health can mean many things…”
• Different things to different people
• It can mean different things to the same
person in different times during their lives.
Consider this…
• Activity:
• Write down what you think is the most important
health issue with children today.
• Now…write down the most important health
issue in YOUR life right now. (age group)
• Now write down what you THINK is the most
important health issue in your parents’ live(s)
right now. (or mid-life person)
• Grandparents’ live(s) or senior/elderly….
I need “TWO” Vannas
What are the health issues of
today’s youth?
What are some of your health
issues????
What are some of your parents’
(mid life) health issues?
Grandparents? (seniors/aging)
As a health educator….
You have a
Personal Self
Own health
Parents’ health
Children’s health
Partner’s health
Professional Self
Students’ health
Co-Workers’ health
Community Self ---everyone around you…including
the WORLD as your community.
How do you define HEALTH??
• Activity:
– Take five cards per person
– List the first five words or phrases that come
to mind when you think about health
– Lay the cards out in front of you and stack
them in order, based on importance to
you…the top card being LEAST important
Everyone Stand Up………
• Your goal is to “give away” your least
important cards, in order, and accept new
card(s) in the place of those you give away.
• As you exchange cards, introduce yourself,
give a card, and get a card. Talk briefly
about what is on each card.
• As you obtain a new card, place that
card at the bottom of your remaining
cards and continue to exchange cards
with different people.
• When it is indicated to stop…take your
original seat, keeping 5 cards with you.
As a group…….
• Discuss the words or phrases your group
has.
• Using the most pertinent words, in your
group’s judgment…..
• Write a definition for the word “health”.
Definitions of Health
• World Health Organization (1947): The
state of complete mental, physical, and
social well-being, not merely the absence
of disease or infirmity.
WHO con’t….
• This classic definition is important as it
identified different components to health.
• It also further implies that health is a
holistic concept involving the interaction
and interdependence among these various
components.
Definition Flaws
– Views health as only a positive concept.
• “the state of complete…well-being”
– Only identifies three dimensions of health.
– Does not address the interplay between the
individual and his/her environment in
determining health.
– Implies that individuals with a disease or
infirmity cannot be healthy.
Some authors suggest….
• Health should be viewed as a state of
being that can exist on a continuum from
“poor” health to “excellent health.”
• Others suggest there are other dimensions
of health beside the three listed in the
WHO definition…therefore it is
imcomplete.
Definitions of Health
• “Within the context of health promotion, health
has been considered less as an abstract state
and more as a means to an end which can be
expressed in functional terms as a resource
which permits people to live individually, socially,
and economically productive lives. Health is a
resource for everyday living, not the object of
living. It is a positive concept emphasizing
social and personal resources as well as
physical capabilities. (WHO/HPR/HEP – 1998 –
World Health Organization, Geneva Switzerland)
• Health is a functional state which makes
possible the achievement of other goals
and activities of living. Comfort, well-
being, and the distinction between mental
and physical health differ in social classes,
cultures, and religious groups. (Hanlon,
1974)
Definitions of Health
“Adynamic state or condition that is
multi-dimensional in nature and results
from a person’s adaptations to his/her
environment. It is a resource for living
and exists in varying degrees.
(McKenzie, Pinger, and Koteski, 2002)
Health is a state of well-being sufficient
to perform at adequate levels of
physical, mental, and social activity,
taking age into account. (Lalonde,
1974)
Health is a reflection of your ability to
use the intrinsic and extrinsic
resources within each dimension of
health in order to participate fully in
the activities that contribute to growth
and development during each stage of
the life cycle. (Payne and Hahn, 1998)
Definitions of Health
Health Is an integrated method of
functioning, which is oriented toward
maximizing the potential of which the
individual is capable. It requires that the
individual maintain a continuum of
balance and purposeful direction with the
environment where he is functioning.
(Dunn, 1967)
Dimensions of Health
• Physical Health: The absence of disease
and disability; functioning adequately
from the perspective of physical and
physiological abilities; the biological
integrity of the individual.
Physical health terms…
• Size and shape of body
• Blood pressure measures
• Cholesterol measures
• Heart rate
• Lung function
• Flexibility/strength
• Immune system function
• Emotional Health: The ability to feel and
express a full range of human emotions,
give and receive love, achieve a sense of
fulfillment and purpose in life, and
develop psychological hardiness.
Emotional Health Terms
• “Hardiness” is an optimistic and commited
approach to life, viewing problems,
including disease as challenges that can
be handled.
• “Resiliency” is the ability to spring back
from and successfully adapt to adversity.
To come through the stress and
challenges faces in life stronger and with
new skills.
• Social Health: Refers to the ability to
perform the expectations of our roles
effectively, comfortably, with pleasure;
to interact effectively with other people
and the social environment; to connect
with other people, to maintain intimacy
and to demonstrate respect and
tolerance toward others.
Social Health Terms:
• Family Support
• Positive family communication
• Adult relationships
• Caring neighborhoods
• Caring school climate
• Parental involvement in schooling
• Mental (Intellectual) Health: It includes the
ability to make sound decisions and to
think critically. It also includes striving
for continued personal growth and
willingness to learn and use new
information effectively.
Mental health terms
Encompasses the intellectual processes of:
• reasoning
• analysis
• curiosity
• humor
• alertness
• creativity
• logic
• learning
• memory
• Spiritual Health: A high level of faith,
hope, and commitment in relation to a
well-defined world view or belief system
that provides a sense of meaning and
purpose to existence in general, and that
offers an ethical path to personal
fulfillment which includes connectedness
with self, others, and a higher power or
larger reality.
• Ethics
• Meaning
• Fulfillment
• Belief system
• connectness
Optimal Health
• Optimal Health: The highest level of
health possible.
– Combines each of the five components of
health.
– Achieving or even approaching optimal health
has many benefits:
• Reductions in major risk factors
• Improved quality of life
• Potential for greater longevity
• Improved self-image, self-esteem, and self-
confidence
• Improved physical appearance
Optimal Health
– Higher energy levels resulting in increased
productivity
– More satisfying sex life
– Improved ability to resist infectious diseases
– Greater ability to manage and control stress
– Greater ability to concentrate and learn
– Improved cardio-respiratory function
– More personal control of life
– Increased muscle tone, flexibility and
endurance
– Increased levels of spiritual health, including
feelings of oneness with self and nature
– Improved social relationships
Community Health/Population
Health
• Community: A collective body of
individuals identified by geography,
common interests, concerns,
characteristics or values. (2000 Joint
Committee on Health Education and
Promotion Terminology)
• Community Health: The health status of
a defined group of people and the actions
and conditions to protect and improve
the health of the community. (Green and
Krueter)
• Population Health: Population health
refers to the health status of people who
are not organized and have no identify as
a group or locality and the actions to
promote, protect and preserve their
health. (McKenzie, Pinger, and Kotecki)
Community Health/Population
Health
• Population-Based Health Education:
Health education interventions designed
to promote health and prevent disease
within groups and communities rather
than focused on the individual. (2000
Joint Committee on Health Education and
Promotion Terminology)
Major Factors Influencing
Health
• Heredity/Human Biology: Includes all
those aspects of health, both physical
and mental, which are developed within
the human body as a consequence of the
basic biology of man.
– Genes resulting in disease processes
– Tendencies toward certain health problems
or risk factors
– Gender
– Age
Major Factors Influencing
Health
• Environment: Includes all those matters
related to health which are external to
the human body and over which the
individual has little or no control. This
can include community size, industrial
development, economy, & social norms.
– Depletion of the ozone layer
– Air pollution
– Allergens
– Media portrayals/marketing
– Poverty
Major Factors Influencing
Health
• Health Care System: Consists of the
quantity, quality, arrangement, nature
and relationships of people and resources
in the provision of health care.
– Strong predictors of access to quality health
care
• Having health insurance
• Having a higher income
• Having a regular care provider
Major Factors Influencing
Health
• Insurance:
– 14.6 percent of the population or 4.2 million
people were without health insurance.
– the percent uninsured in Michigan was 9.8
and rising
– There are disparities in health insurance
coverage by: 1) Race, 2) Ethnicity, 3) Age,
4) Level of educational attainment, and
5) Income.
Major Factors Influencing
Health
• Income:
– Some people have health insurance but not
enough to cover needed care.
– Some people do not have the financial
resources for costs outside of the plan.
• Access to Primary Care Physician
– More than 40 million Americans do not have a
particular doctor’s office, clinic, or health
center they go to.
Major Factors Influencing
Health
• Lifestyle/Behaviors: A consistent complex
or related behavioral patterns in a group
or individual, usually based on some
combination of cultural heritage, social
relationship, geographic, economic
circumstances and personality.
– Forty-eight percent of all premature deaths
could be linked to lifestyle behaviors
– Lifestyle/health behaviors are often referred
to as modifiable risk factors. Risk factors are
things that increase one’s risk of becoming
sick or of dying prematurely.
Measuring Health
• Epidemiologist: An individual who studies
the outbreaks of disease, injury and
deaths in human populations.
• Epidemiology: The study of the
distribution and determinants of diseases
and injuries in the human population.
Measuring Health
• Rate: The number of events (births, cases
of disease, deaths) in a given population
over a given period of time or at a given
point in time.
– Natality rates: The number of live births
divided by the total population. Natality
rates are often shown as the number of live
births per 1,000 in a population.
– Morbidity rates: The number of individuals
who are ill divided by the total population.
– Mortality rates: The number of deaths
divided by the total population. Mortality
rates are generally calculated per 100,000
population.
Measuring Health
• Incidence rate: The number of new cases
of a disease in a given population in a
given time period.
• Prevalence rate: The total number of
cases (old and new) of a disease in a
given population in a given time period.
• Attack rate: Is a special incidence rate
calculated for a particular population for
a single disease outbreak. It is generally
expressed as a percent.
• Crude birth rate: The total number of
live birth in a given year divided by the
population total.
Measuring Health
• Crude death rates: The total number
of deaths in a given year divided by the
total population.
• Age-adjusted rates: Age adjusted-rates
use the population of the United States
during a given year as the basis for
making calculations that allow for the
comparisons of different populations or
populations over time.
Measuring Health
• Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL): This
is a measure of premature mortality;
premature mortality being defined as
death before the age of 75. It is
calculated by subtracting a person’s age
at death from 75. For example, for an
individual who dies at age 20 due to a
homicide, the YPLL would be 55 years.
The interview……
• With your group….come up with 8
questions you would like to ask…
• Be creative!
• What do you REALLY want to ask.