In the course of the development of public health institutions, people have been always concerned with preventing diseases and seeking curative methods. Everything – from scientific investigations, methodology applied in the research to the policy of public health organizations – has been always directed at illness perspective. However, the focus has been recently made on health matters and the promotion of public health services. At this point, the main problem lies in the necessity to radically change health schemes, conventional views of the population on illness treatment, which, in their turn, require altering the main goals and objectives of medical organizations. Another problem is that the population and individuals’ philosophical orientation on health has been long viewed through the perspective of illness treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to consider different concepts of health and the impact of various health care policies on their health awareness. In addition, one should pursue the shifts in health conceptualizations and their contribution to the awareness of health in different communities.
Over the centuries, different concepts of health and well-being have been considered in general and specific contexts. The variations of these definitions take place, though some ordinary people may even reckon with all ones. Nonetheless, some might think that the concept of health is so evident that ordinary people are incapable to define what health means to them because they do not fully realize the role of health care services and the relations between medicine and good life. The problem is that various definitions ignore health as a value, as most descriptive definitions regard heath from physiological aspects. Still, value-based definitions exclude universal aspects (Caplan et al., 2004, p. 105).
The World Health Organization identifies health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (The Constitution of the World Health Organization). At a first glance, the dentition is too general since it is grounded on utopian concepts where people are considered separately. People may be physically healthy but deprived of the desire to live further. At this point, Caplan et al. (2004) see a healthy person being in physical and mental harmony with him/herself and other members of society. Some definitions regard the term from the negative prism thus defining a healthy person as the one deprived of physical and mental illnesses. An interesting definition is also provided by an outstanding microbiologist, Rene Dubos who associates health with “a modus vivendi enabling imperfect men to achieve a rewarding and not too painful existence while they cope with an imperfect world” (Young, 2005, p. 2). The ongoing changes in the term definitions greatly contribute to the changes in public health policies and individual perceptions of health. In particular, different strategies and programs launched in different countries have also made people reevaluate the actual significance of health and their connection with social justice and equality (Hanson, 2007, p. 11).
The above definitions and their impact on the population’s perceptions of health and illness show that the biological and mental state of humans is predetermined by a plethora of nuances inside and outside communities. However, my images of health are narrowed to the balance between mental and physical activities enclosed in such a notion as a lifestyle. This current trend of a healthy way of life revealed in video and TV ads calls for changing a patient’s paradigm. Recent scientific developments have discovered that some illnesses are genetically dependent and, therefore, the only hope for such a case in the early detection of the disease. In other cases, people should not rely on genetic predetermination but watch what they eat and how they move and act.
The alternative concepts investigated in previous paragraphs outsource the ideas that the main change in health treatment lies in health-oriented philosophy. This means that initially, the health care system was primarily directed at the establishment of preventive and curative measures. In contrast, the new tendency is associated with health promotion approaches. The differences between these two philosophies lie in the primary task settled for solving the problem. Hence, the health promotion or salutogenic approach is more focused on human beings and the conditions shaping their lives. The implementation of this theory should be linked with various disciplines studying people’s life and habits, social and cultural conditions. As a whole, the health promotion theory discovered by Antonovsky precedes the curative methods and arises from the preventive method. Even more, if preventive methods are aimed at preventive diseases (regressive approach), then salutogenic approach purposes the techniques for improving human health (progressive approach) (Hanson, 2007, p. 44). This theory has led me to the idea that there are few researchers devoted to the study of health, as most scholars pay more attention to the study of illnesses and diseases, like AIDS, and cancer.
Recent research on the public health system has disclosed that there is an ambiguity in considering the concept of health as a biomedical model and the biological and genetic origin of disease. Indeed, there the modern medical theories argue the necessity to transform this model in the social course (Brown and Duncan, 2002, 361). Referring back to health geographies, it is possible to pursue three phases of formation healthy communities and their philosophies. The first phase was called the “old” public health system that is based on the medical model; the next is the preventive phase and the therapeutic stage is based on curative approaches. These stages provide a broad overview of the main definition of health but they do not correlate with the consideration of public health at the social level (Brown and Duncan, 2002, p 362). Arising from this, this notion should be associated with the creation of favorable conditions for a person to be healthy. Each phase was guided by specific medical knowledge predetermining public health activities. For instance, the sanitary stage witnessed the miasmic theory of disease causality leading to different health reforms that also contribute to the appearance of appropriate hygiene norms for public health (Brown and Duncan, 2002, p. 362). With the ongoing shift in medical knowledge and the appearance of various medical theories, society can observe the changes in other spheres of life-altering its mode and status.
The history of medical changes constructs a logical chain of the formation of health perspectives in public in different communities with different regimes of public health activities. The innovative approach to health public activities is viewed through the social model of human health. This theory allows recognizing the external factors participating in the formation of health-based behaviors and solutions for improving health taking into consideration of individual choice. At this point, the communities of different times and stages influence the choices of people and their health philosophy. Viewing through this theoretical prism, “health is …seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living, it is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capabilities” (Lundy and Janes, 2003, p. 9). The community, thus, and a person living within it should be able to utilize those resources properly and to adjust to changes they face in everyday life.
The modern regulatory mode has given rise to the appearance of new theoretical and practical changes improving the health form. In particular, recent studies are investigating the core shift from curative medicine to health promotion. The practices, thus, reveal considerable changes in governance and social control contributing to monitoring human lifestyles and behaviors. Many researchers believe that the best practice for health improvement and promotion is the consideration of risk factors (Brown and Duncan, 2002, p. 364). Such risk factors predominantly derive from social environment influencing people’s behavior and habits like smoking, alcohol, sexual behavior) and physical environment (occupation and housing).
Drawing a conclusion, medical orientation and health perspective in society have passed through several theories and modes predetermined by social settings. This angle of the issue allows us to discover a broader context of the concept of health, which cannot be considered as a physical and mental state only but in the light of the community human life in. The multidiscipline approach to the study of public health has triggered the formation of the new medical ideology and the replacement of the traditional biological model of a healthy state by a social one. These theoretical and practice experiences have proved that health is not the main goal of life but a source for social and cultural activities within different communities.
Reference List
Brown, T., and Duncan, C. (2002). Placing Geographies of Public Health. Blackwell Publishing. 34(4, 361-369).
Caplan, A. L., McCartney, J. J., and Sisti, D. A. (2004). Health, disease, and illness: concepts in medicine. Washington: Georgetown University Press.
Hanson, A. (2007). Workplace Health Promotion: A Salutogenic Approach. Indianna: AuthorHouse.
Lundy, K. S., and Janes, S. (2003). Essentials of community-based nursing. US: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
The Constitution of the World Health Organization. (2006). Basic Documents. Web.
Young, K. T. (2005). Population Health: Concept and Methods. US: Oxford University Press.