NCM 102

• Dimensions of health


  • Broader dimensions (environmental and societal)
  • Individual dimensions (physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, sexual, societal, environmental)
• Physical health


  State of one's body like its fitness and not being ill. Optimum functioning of physical and physiological abilities and freedom from diseases and disability.
• Mental health


  Positive sense of purpose and underlying belief in one's own worth (self-esteem), feeling good and able to cope, intellectual capabilities.
• Emotional health


  Ability to express feelings appropriately and develop and sustain relationships (feeling of being loved).
• Social health


  Support system available from family members and friends, ability to interact effectively with people and the social environment.
• Spiritual health


  Recognition of a Supreme Being or Force and ability to put into practice one's moral principles of beliefs.
• Sexual health


  Acceptance of and the ability to achieve satisfactory expressions of one's sexuality.
• Societal health


  Link between health and the way a society is structured, including the basic infrastructure necessary for health (shelter, peace, food, income).
• Environmental health


  Physical environment where people live (housing, transport, sanitation, pollution, water facilities).
• Health is considered as the goal of public health in general and of community health nursing in particular.
• The modern concept of health refers to the optimum level of functioning (OLOF) of individuals, families, and communities which is affected by several factors in the ecosystem.
• Factors in the ecosystem affecting the optimum level of functioning

  • Political
  • Behavioral
  • Hereditary
  • Health care delivery system
  • Environmental influence
  • Social-economic influence
• Political factors


  Involve power and authority to regulate the environment or social climate - safety, oppression and people of empowerment.
• Behavioral factors


  A person's level of functioning affected by certain habits, lifestyle, health care and child rearing practices - culture, habits, mores and ethnic customs.
• Hereditary factors


  Understanding of genetically influenced disease and genetic risk - congenital defects, strengths, and health risk which can be familial, ethnic or racial.
• Health care delivery system


  Primary Health Care is a partnership approach to the effective provision of essential health services that are community based, accessible, acceptable, sustainable, and affordable. The focus is on promotion, prevention, curative, and rehabilitation aspects of care.
• Environmental influence


  Pollution, communicable diseases due to poor sanitation, poor garbage collection, smoking, utilization of pesticide, radiation, waste management.
• Social-economic influence


  Families in lower income group are ones mostly served - employment, education, and housing.
• Health as a basic human right embodied in

  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • Philippine Constitution of 1987
  • World Health Organization
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being, including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services.
• The Philippine Constitution of 1987 states that the State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development and endeavor to provide free medical services to paupers.
• The World Health Organization believes that governments have the responsibility for the health of their people which can be fulfilled only by the provision of adequate health and social measurements.
• Basic positive concepts of health


  • Reflecting concern for the individual as total person
  • Placing health in the context of the environment
  • Equating health with productive and creative living
• An understanding of health is the basis of all health care. Health is not perceived the same way by all members of a community including various groups (e.g., biomedical scientists, social science specialists, ecologists, health administrators, etc.)
• Biomedical concept


  Traditional beliefs viewed health as the "absence of disease", and if one were free from diseases, then that individual was considered healthy
• Biomedical concept


  • Based on the "germ theory of disease" which dominated medical thought at the turn of the 20th century
  • Viewed the human body as a machine, and disease as a consequence of the breakdown of the machine
  • Health became the ultimate goal of medicine
• Biomedical model


  Minimized the role of the environment, social, psychological and cultural determinants of health
• The biomedical model was found inadequate to solve some of the major health problems of mankind (e.g. malnutrition, drug abuse, environmental pollution, mental illness, chronic diseases, and population explosion)
• Psychosocial concepts


  Health is influenced by social, psychological, cultural, economic and political factors of the people concerned
• Social relationship


  • Has a big effect on the overall health status of an individual
  • Enables an individual to cope up easily with depression, boredom, stress and anxiety
  • Provides a support system in dealing with such negative emotions thus making the person stronger and brave in facing life's challenges
• Health is both a biological and social phenomenon
• Ecological Concepts


  Health is a result of dynamic equilibrium between man and his environment, and disease is a maladjustment of the human organism to the environment
• The health of humans cannot be dissociated from the health of the life-supporting ecosystems with which human interact and are interdependent
• The health of the future generations is dependent upon the integrity and sustainability of the ecosystem
• Sustainable health


  A sustainable state of equilibrium among humans and other living things that share earth
• Human beings cannot long remain healthy in an environment in which they are out of harmony with the other living things, or if other living things are dead or dying as a consequence of people's actions
• This is true of all life forms, from the smallest microorganisms, to the largest mammals
• Conquering pathogenic microorganisms with antibiotics


  1. War

  2. Microorganisms adapt and evolve antibiotic resistant strains

  3. New antibiotics cannot be developed fast enough
• Challenge


  Develop methods that will enable humans to live in harmony with other dangerous microorganisms and insect vectors of disease and ensure environmental quality by maintaining cleanliness and sanitation
• This is a more certain way to ensure long term health for the population than impossible goal of attempting to exterminate pathogens that cause some diseases