Concepts of Health and Wellness

• Health is the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
• According to WHO, health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity but also includes social and personal resources, such as resilience, self-esteem, and confidence.
• Wellness refers to an active process through which individuals become aware of their actions and choices that affect their health status.
• Health is not just the absence of disease or infirmity.
• Health is a word derived from the old English word for heal which is HAEL, meaning whole, because health concerns the whole person and his/her integrity, soundness or well-being.
• In the natural world, there is no mind-body split, rather, mind, body and spirit are intricately connected.
• Holistic nursing intervention focuses on the total care of the individual as a complete being rather than on fragmented care which focuses only on the part or parts which are not healthy or functional.
• Wellness is the perception that one is capable of achieving one's full potentials through the options one has in relation to being well.
• Wellness is a state of mind, a way of life that involves options an individual takes to enjoy a healthy life.
• Wellness is the integration of the mind, body and spirit.
• Wellness is the level of self-actualization where one feels that they have lived a full and accomplished life.
• Knowledge of the theory of holism allows the nurse to understand the patient with compassion and caring and to treat him/her as a family member and not simply a “case” or “room number”.
• Health is holistic (total health) and it includes the different dimensions of health taking into account the separate influences and interaction of these dimensions.
• The dimensions of health are composed of the broader dimension of health in the outer circle: societal health which is the link between health and the way a society is structured, and environmental health which refers to the physical environment where people live.
• The individual dimensions of health in the inner circle include physical health which refers to the state of one’s body like its fitness and not being ill, mental health referring to the positive sense of purpose and underlying belief in one’s own worth (self-esteem) like feeling good and feeling able to cope, emotional health which is the ability to express one’s feeling appropriately and to develop and sustain relationships, social health which involves the support system that is available from family members and friends, spiritual health which is the recognition of a Supreme Being or Force
• The Philippine Constitution of 1987, Art. XIII, Sec. 11 states that “There shall be priority for the needs of the underprivileged, sick, elderly, disabled, women, and children.
• Health and wellness are two concepts which have been used interchangeably to mean the ability “to live life fully with vitality and meaning”.
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ARTICLE 25, Section 11 states that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, necessary social services, and security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control.
• The Philippine Constitution of 1987, Art. XIII, Sec. 11 states that “The State shall endeavor to provide free medical services to paupers.
• Wellness is now the new health goal.
• The Philippine Constitution of 1987, Art. XIII, Sec. 11 states that “The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost.
• Wellness is largely determined by the decisions you make about how to live your life.
• Dunn (1997) emphasized high-level (HLW) as “ an integrated method of functioning which is oriented toward maximizing the potential which the individual is capable of”.
• Greenberg (1992) and Donatelle and Davis (1996) viewed the philosophy of wellness as a positive quality and visualized it as the integration of the spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, environmental and social dimensions of health to form a whole “healthy person”.
• Some aspects of health are determined by genes, age, and other factors which may be beyond one’s control.
• WHO emphasizes three basic positive concepts of health: reflecting concerns for the individual as a total person, placing health in the context of the environment, and equating health with productive and creative living.
• The Philippine Constitution of 1987, Art. XIII, Sec. 11 states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their family, including food, clothing, housing, medical care, necessary social services, and security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age, or lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond their control.
• WHO (1995) believes that “governments have a responsibility for the health of their people which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measures.
• Behavioral factor in the ecosystem affecting the Optimum Level of Functioning (OLOF) refers to a person's level of functioning which is affected by certain habits, lifestyle, health care, and child rearing practices which are determined by the culture and ethnic heritage.
• The WHO definition of health is an ideal state which is just a "goal to strive for" but can never be achieved since no one can ever attain a "state of complete mental, physical and social well-being".
• Physical health is a biological integrity of an individual where there is optimum functioning of his physical and physiological abilities and freedom from any disease or disability.
• Spiritual health, also referred to as personal health, may be concerned with one's belief in a transcending, unifying force, whether its basis is in nature, scientific law, or a godlike source.
• Health, as defined by the World Health Organization in 1946, is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.
• Orem's definition of health is "a state characterized by soundness and wholeness of human structures, bodily and mental functions".
• Political factor in the ecosystem affecting the Optimum Level of Functioning (OLOF) refers to the power and authority to regulate the environment and the social climate by the politicians and decision makers especially on laws and policies which impact on health, the health care delivery system and the practice of the nursing profession.
• Mental health, also referred to as psychological health and emotional health, is the subjective sense of well-being and may also refer to intellectual capabilities.
• The Optimum Level of Health (OLOF) is a modern concept of health referring to the "optimum level of functioning" (OLOF) of individuals, families, and communities which is affected by several factors in the ecosystem.
• Health is considered as the goal of public health in general and of community health nursing in particular.
• Social health is the ability to interact effectively with other people and the social environment, development and sustenance of satisfying interpersonal relationships, and effective and efficient role fulfillment.
• Hereditary factors in the ecosystem affecting the Optimum Level of Functioning (OLOF) are factors which are determined by heredity which are the genetic make-up of a person like inherited diseases and genetic risks.