What is Health? Session Aims To explore the

Transcript:What is Health? Session Aims To explore the:
What is Health? Session Aims To explore the complexities of health as a concept To reflect on your own perspective on health To summarize and critique key debates about the concept of health Definitions of health Dependent on a wide range of perspectives, subjectivities and experiences Socially, historically and culturally located Health is a contested concept Health is an abstract concept and difficult to define (Green et al, 2019) Definitions of Health Health as the absence of disease Health as a continuum (positive/negative) Holistic health Health as well-being Health as being able to function Theoretical Perspectives The Medical Model of Health Based in science Focuses on the individual Health is ‘located’ in the individual body Ill-health is caused by biology or physiology Health is the absence of disease or abnormality Forms the basis of healthcare provision Theoretical Perspectives The Social Model of Health Health is determined by a range of factors Ill-health is caused by structural factors such as poverty and inequalities Health is socially constructed Health is socially produced Lay perspective is key Comparing and Contrasting the Medical and Social Models Theoretical Perspectives Salutogenesis (Antonosky) The origins of health Challenges the pathogenic nature of the medical model of health Focuses on what makes people healthy not what makes people sick Suggests a health-ease-dis-ease continuum on which everyone is located Theoretical Perspectives The Holistic Model of Health An integrated approach Person is viewed as a ‘whole’ Takes into account the interaction of biological, psychological and social factors – “an expression of wholeness” (Svalastog et al., 2017: 431) Other perspectives Philosophical Psychological Social Constructionist Health as a moral phenomenon Lay Perspectives on Health ‘Non-expert’ understandings Not homogeneous Complex Differ across individuals, communities, cultures, contexts and time Differ with age, levels of education, social class and gender Valuable in understanding what health is Lay Perspectives – Blaxter (2010) Health as not-ill Health as physical fitness, vitality Health as social relationships Health as function Health as psychosocial well-being Lay Perspectives – Stainton-Rogers (1991) Body as machine (links with medical model understandings) Body under siege (external factors influence health, e.g. germs) Inequality of access (e.g. to medical services) Cultural critique (linked with ideas about exploitation and oppression) Health promotion (linked with ideas about responsibility for health as being individual and collective) Robust individualism (linked with rights to a satisfying life) Willpower account (linked with ideas about individual control) Culture and Health – examples Ideas