As professionals that actively participate in health promotion activities, nurses are anticipated to have a profound understanding of the various models of health, including the biomedical one. This model supports nursing practice by establishing effective research frameworks and improving the comprehension of patients’ physical needs and risk factors. This paper contributes to the discussion of biomedical theories in nursing by exploring the uses of the web of causation and gene theory.
Biomedical Theories in Healthcare: The Web of Causation
Being aimed at providing complex and logically sound explanations for diverse unfavorable medical conditions, the web of causation is among the most frequently applied biomedical theories. The theory is broad in terms of the level of abstraction, which allows applying its central claims to a wide variety of disorders and making causal inferences that would translate into holistic care plans. The concept of the web of causation has been formulated in the 1970s to solidify the idea of multidimensional causes of diseases and establish the model for explaining chronic conditions that are not fully attributable to a limited number of factors (Șerban et al., 2018; Van der Zande et al., 2020). Instead of presenting disease development as linear cause-effect relationships, the web of causation theory posits that health issues can result from complex interactions between a number of causative agents, including medical history, lifestyle, the lack of awareness, harmful exposures, and so on. Thus, the selected theory promotes a departure from the oversimplification of disease causality.
Regarding improvements in patient outcomes, the theory’s universal nature and flexibility can maximize disease prevention strategies’ effectiveness by facilitating the detection of risk factors to be minimized. For instance, in Șerban et al. (2018), the theory is applied to explore the multifactorial nature of childhood obesity and review some evidence regarding high-risk nutritional patterns, such as the intake of liquid calories and high-fat simple carbohydrates and their links to the accretion of excessive adipose tissue and weight abnormalities. In the case of pediatric obesity, the identified “web” of causative agents can pave the way for improved dietary recommendations or even inform modern approaches to food policy, thus decreasing exposure to unhealthy alimentary products.
To continue, the theory can promote better health outcomes in patients by shedding light on the complex barriers to care and supporting the development of strategies to promote the timely utilization of medical resources. Van der Zande et al. (2020) use the web of causation to explore the contributors to insufficient dental healthcare use, ranging from poorly controlled dental anxiety and a lack of trust to unfavorable socioeconomic conditions. The identified cause-effects relationships and inter-agent interactions point to need for co-payment, local dental services, and oral health awareness strategies (Van der Zande et al., 2020). These large-scale measures can minimize these barriers, thus reducing the burden of oral disease by promoting its early detection.
Biomedical Theories in Mental Healthcare: Gene Theory
Aside from the environmental models of mental health, gene theory finds use in adult and geriatric mental healthcare to improve the early detection of hereditary diseases and improve risk assessment strategies. Basically, gene theory conceptualizes genes as the units of heredity and posits that they might be related to predispositions to diverse physical conditions. In severe mental disorders, for instance, schizophrenia, the precise patterns of inheritance remain relatively unexplored since the disease is believed to be overly complex to be caused by changes to one particular gene (Gentile & Fusco, 2019; Wu et al., 2017). As of now, multiple potential candidate genes involved in schizophrenia development have been proposed, but inherited genetic variants that involve the highest risks of this disorder are yet to be established by means of new large-scale studies (Wu et al., 2017). Despite these persistent knowledge gaps, the role of family mental health history in schizophrenia is not subject to question.
Considering examples, in my practice area, gene theory can be utilized in conjunction with other theoretical approaches to mental health to include the family history of psychiatric disease in assessments and provide female patients diagnosed with serious mental disorders with pregnancy planning advice. Firstly, current research, including studies in twin populations, suggests that the heritability of schizophrenia can be up to 0,80, and this estimate is relatively high compared to other psychiatric disorders (Wu et al., 2017). Such evidence related to schizophrenia and other life-changing diagnoses justifies the need for diverse family history screening tools for individuals with mental health complaints. Secondly, updated information on the heritability of schizophrenia and the developmental outcomes of schizophrenic women’s children is made available to psychiatric patients that consider pregnancy. For instance, patients should take into account that poorly controlled symptoms or having a partner with the same diagnosis make health risks for their potential children tremendously high, including the chances of developing schizophrenia or other conditions, such as attention deficits (Gentile & Fusco, 2019). Therefore, an understanding of genetic components in the pathophysiology of mental disease can improve risk assessment interventions.
Conclusion
Finally, the web of causation and gene theory can support health promotion and patient education by incorporating the concepts of heredity and multiple interconnected risk factors into care activities. The web of causation is a model that facilitates the identification of strategies to minimize the burden of complex non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, and barriers to care utilization. As for gene theory, it supplements the biopsychosocial model of mental disease by supporting the recognition of family history in patient assessment and counseling.
References
Gentile, S., & Fusco, M. L. (2019). Schizophrenia and motherhood. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 73(7), 376-385. Web.
Șerban, C. L., Șerban, D. M., Butica, Ș. I., & Lungeanu, D. (2018). Web of causation between dietary patterns and childhood obesity: Applying Hill’s criteria. Romanian Journal of Diabetes Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, 25(4), 431-438.
Van der Zande, M. M., Exley, C., Wilson, S. A., & Harris, R. V. (2020). Disentangling a web of causation: An ethnographic study of interlinked patient barriers to planned dental visiting, and strategies to overcome them. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, 1-14.
Wu, Y., Yao, Y. G., & Luo, X. J. (2017). SZDB: A database for schizophrenia genetic research.Schizophrenia Bulletin, 43(2), 459-471. Web.