An individual’s health is determined by several factors known in medical terms as determinants of health. While several of them might be from the environment, several others are an individual’s own making. Consequently, these individual factors played an important role when I tried to come up with a strategy for ensuring that Jason Newman, a young man from Atlanta who is now living in Queensland, Australia lived a healthy life. I found out that Jason was an alcohol addict. This character and lack of interest in searching for medical attention are the greatest challenges that any practitioner could face when trying to help Jason have good health.
The main determinants of health are an individual’s social environment, physical environment, and behaviour. Of great interest in the case of Jason is behaviour. Personal characters like consumption of alcohol, smoking, active living, cultural background, coping and reacting to stress, etc determine one’s health. In Jason’s case, too much drinking and lack of interest in seeking medical assistance are the two main behaviours that posed a challenge to me as a practitioner.
Jason drinks too much alcohol. Consumption of alcohol is a challenge because it can lead to diseases like cirrhosis. In addition, consuming alcohol tempers a person’s reasoning. As a result, he might engage in risky behaviours that would result in the contraction of certain diseases. Precisely, in the event of being drunk, he increased his risk of engaging in unprotected sex. Therefore, this was my first challenge when dealing with Jason. I had to ensure that this behaviour was eliminated from Jason’s life before I came up with a strategy.
In addition, Jason rarely believes in seeking medical attention. In an interview with him, he asserts that medication does not assist in improving health. Instead, it only makes the situation worse. In his country, he used natural herbs which could not harm his health. As a result, he developed distrust for all medical practitioners. This is very detrimental to his health. The World Health Organization points out that use and access to the community’s health services can determine an individual’s health life. This helps medical practitioners to identify diseases and treat them in their early stages. Therefore, the character of Jason not using medical services as a result of his distrust will mean that most of the diseases in his body will not be identified until late.
How can such challenges be met? The most important approach to such a problem is debunking the myths about medication tightly held by Jason. These are the main sources of his behaviour that eventually makes him try to resist medical assistance. Jason, therefore, needs a comprehensive teaching session that will debunk his thinking and make him seek medical services. Specifically, Jason must be taught to seek medical advice even when he does not feel sick. He should also be taught the dangers of alcohol. This will be important because drinking in itself is a big threat to his health. He should also be given practices that will assist him to stop drinking. For example, use an alternative drink whenever he felt the urge to drink. It is therefore continuous education that can change the beliefs of Jason and hence assist a medical practitioner.
In conclusion, cultural background can implicate the health of an individual. In addition, the behaviour of an individual can either cause disease or subject him to the risk of contracting a disease. However, it is the role of a practitioner to ensure that people are educated to change their beliefs.