Health & Social Care: Unit 3 AO1

Unit 3 AO1

The terms “health” and “well-being” can have many different meanings, depending on the individual or model. There are professional definitions, like those of doctors and other health professionals; which generally give a more scientific view than others, and there are the definitions of the general public; known as lay definitions or models, a popular lay model with the general public majority being Stainton Rodgers 1997, which includes lay models such as viewing the body as a machine, simply something to be maintained and fixed when broken. These many definitions help people to see the broader sense of health & well-being, that it is not simply just ‘not being ill’.

Health is split into six different aspects or categories;

Physical - this is much like the medical model of health, regarding the physical ability of the body
Emotional - regarding recognising & expressing emotions appropriately
Mental - Greatly linked to emotional health, the ability to think clearly & coherently
Social - the ability to build & maintain relationships
Spiritual- relating to personal creeds, such as religious beliefs
Environmental health – concerns the effects of our surroundings, whether it be discrimination or pollution

Each aspect is not to be seen as another individual view or definition of health, but as part of health as a whole. All of the aspects must be looked after and maintained to be truly healthy.

Definitions of health can be of a positive or a negative nature. To define health as simply the absence of illness or disease is a negative view. As it suggests health is not that appreciated until it is lost. Simply defining someone as unhealthy, for having something as insignificant as a cold, would be inaccurate; as everyone is at least a little bit ill from time to time, regardless of their overall health.

When the World Health Organisation (WHO) was set up in 1948, they defined health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. However, this definition suggests that health is idealistic and that it remains constant throughout a person’s lifetime.

After such criticisms were made about the WHO’s original definition, they redefined it in 1984. Changing it to: “the extent to which an individual or group is able on the one hand, to realise aspirations and satisfy needs, and on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living; it is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities”.

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Well-being is, as this web definition says, “a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity;” it is defined as being positive, in good health or condition, it is best summed up as the quality of life that someone has.

(Ref: class notes, Wikipedia, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/well-being)

There are many different factors that can affect a person’s health in different ways; some factors are within a person’s control, for example, recreational activities, whilst others are out of their control, such as genetic diseases. The main factors are considered to be:

Attitudes ...

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(Ref: class notes, Wikipedia, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/well-being)

Attitudes & prejudices – which may be a fear or distrust of doctors etc

Lifestyle choices – such as diet & exercise

Social – such as cultural traditions or social class

Environmental issues – housing conditions or amount of pollution you are exposed to on a daily basis

Financial – consisting of your income & any benefits you may receive

Physical factors – such as any additional needs someone may have

(Ref: class notes)

Environmental factors such as pollution can affect health in many ways as there are different types of pollution.

Noise pollution can cause eventual hearing damage due to trauma caused to the inner ear by loud sound, as when a loud sound in a particular frequency range damages the ear, it reduces the ear's ability to hear the same frequencies again. (ref: Wikipedia; Health effects from noise)

Air pollution, such as that from car exhausts, power plants burning fossil fuels, can cause lung cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (Ref: http://www.epha.org/r/54)

Water pollution often causes severe illness and even death due to contamination of drinking water by untreated sewage, resulting in infectious diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever, however it is more so a problem in developing countries than the rest of the world

Ref: http://www.water-pollution.org.uk/health.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution

Radioactive pollution may cause radiation sickness, but if in large enough proportions or over time, it can cause several types of cancer. One major example of this kind of pollution is the Chernobyl disaster, as in the aftermath 237 people suffered from acute radiation sickness, 31 died within the first three months. (Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster#Health_of_plant_workers_and_local_people)

One lifestyle choice is whether or not a person smokes. Smoking can affect health in several ways:

Most commonly it can greatly increase your chances of getting diseases such as lung cancer, increasing the risk from 1,1% to 22.1% for a males and from 0.8% to 11.9% for a females before the age 85, or heart disease increasing the risk

The use of smoking as a recreational activity could have positive effects in decreasing stress levels, on the other hand when depleted of nicotine stress increases until the next ‘fix’ of nicotine

In contrast, it could create stress and/or anxiety financially as fuelling a nicotine addiction, as the NHS states that based on smoking five cigarettes a day would cost you £40 in one month, £237 after six months and so on.

Socially, smoking may be of benefit. As it is often seen as a social activity, even simply offering a cigarette in a social setting such as a bar can be a excuse to talk to strangers, allowing the potential for forming more relationships with people. This is enhanced by the prohibition of smoking in public buildings, as this forces smokers to either gather in a specified room or outside area.

Ref: handout from Applied AS Health & Social Care, Fisher et al, Folens, UK, 2006, www.wikipedia.com, http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Documents/Smoking%20calculator.html

The Biomedical/Medical Model

It is the main model referred to by health professionals, it is the view represented by traditional medicine, which it is central to, and the traditional scientific views of health and illness. It consists of the belief that health is only the absence of disease & illness and deals with the physical aspects of health, and sees illness as something caused by external factors such as bacteria invading the body or involuntary internal changes such as genetic factors. It sees the body as like a machine, it focuses on the curing of disease, not the prevention.

Also it would expect treatments that are effective to be those that change the physical state of the body, in correspondence to the physical cause of the illness. In practice, this model generally consists of a single specific cause to an illness, with a specific treatment in connection to that illness, an example being antibiotics for infections. It is generally most effective with short-term illnesses, when the process is simply identifying the cause and administering a subsequent treatment.

Ref: BTEC National Health Studies B Stretch, Heinemann, Oxford, 2002

The Social Model

In contrast to the biomedical model, the social model recognises that factors other than biological ones have an important influence on health, such as environment, culture and lifestyle. It sees that instead of there being one simple cause of ill-health, there could be several factors contributing together towards health. It promotes looking at these factors and changing aspects of them to improve one’s health.

Ref: class notes

Differences Between Models

Ref: , class notes

Individuals may not always respond to health advice – based on these models there could be several reasons. For example for someone taking drugs, they may think that as long as it has no obvious effects on them then why should they stop? If the drugs do eventually cause a negative effect then they can simply go to a health professional and try quitting or finding some sort of solution, but until then why should they bother. This would be a view based on the biomedical model – seeing the body as a machine.

In the case of the social model, people may not exercise for the appropriate amount of time each day because there are simply too many other factors in their life – they may be too busy with work or family to have the time to really exercise.

Ill-Health

Ill-health can be easily defined as “a state in which you are unable to function normally and without pain” – . However a person also may not have or show any obvious signs or symptoms but still have ill-health.

Ill-health can be split into different concepts, as a disease, a disorder and as a subjective feeling/illness.

As a disease:

May have symptoms such as; pain, bleeding or problems breathing. A health professional will diagnose the disease based on the visible symptoms and gave the corresponding treatment.

As a disorder:

An organ or system within the body not functioning as it should, for example the pancreas with diabetes, or even simply to do with eyesight, short-sighted or long-sightedness.

As a subjective feeling or illness:

This is when a person simply feels unwell despite showing no symptoms of illness or signs of disease.

Different symptoms of ill-health can affect your quality of life in many ways.

Disturbed sleep patterns may affect a person:

Physically – being too tired to do anything may make their physical health decrease due to a lack of exercise

Emotionally - without proper sleep they will not feel at their best, and may be prone to bad moods

Socially – a lack in sleep may mean they don’t want to g out or communicate more than what would be necessary, possibly even snapping at friends and causing small fall outs

Financially – Their work performance may decrease, leading to a Sabbatical or being fired from work, obviously leading to an income decrease and severe stress and/or depression.

A persistent, severe headache could affect someone in the following ways:

Physically – the pain of the headache may make them unable to walk or carry out everyday activities properly, especially if it affects their eyesight

Emotionally – they may become depressed over time due to their decreased ability to do what they want, when they want to

Socially – it may render them housebound, resulting in a lack of social activity, only emphasized if their headache is too severe to withstand talking on a phone for any period of time

Financially – they will have to take time off work, not being paid they will eventually be unable to pay bills, mortgages etc. and may even end up fired from their job altogether