Answer:
Although clearly related, the concepts of illness and disease are distinct. People have illness and physicians diagnose and treat disease.
Disease is an objective term which implies a malfunctioning of the body or part of the body. Disease is pathological and is diagnosed on the basis of recognizable signs and symptoms.
Illness is the subjective experience of pain, discomfort or disorder.
Although it is mostly safe to say that illness is the subjective experience of disease, it is possible to experience illness without having a disease and it is possible to have a disease and not feel ill.
LEARNING ACTIVITY
Think of a time when you were ill.
Can you think of an illness experience which is not disease related?
Can you think of a disease which may not make you feel ill?
Health Education: Basic Principles
In this session you will learn about the nature of health, health education, health promotion and some related concepts. This will help you to understand the social, psychological and physical components of health.
Definition and Concepts of Health
In the Oxford English Dictionary health is defined as: ‘the state of being free from sickness, injury, disease, bodily conditions; something indicating good bodily condition.”
Now stop for a moment and think about someone you think is healthy and someone else who you would consider to be not healthy.
Look at the definition of health again.
Is it similar to the things you thought about when you thought of a healthy and an unhealthy person?
This definition of health is a widely publicized one. But you may have thought of someone who has a disability or wondered about someone who looks OK but who you know does no exercise. Clearly health is not quite as simple as the definition implies.
The concept of health is wide and the way we define health also depends on individual perception, religious beliefs, cultural values, norms, and social class. Generally, there are two different perspectives concerning people’s own definitions of health: a narrow perspective and a broader perspective.
Narrow Perspectives of Health
People with a narrow perspective consider health as the absence of disease or disability or biological dysfunction. According to this view (or model), to call someone unhealthy or sick means there should be evidence of a particular illness. Social, emotional and psychological factors are not believed to cause unhealthy conditions. This model is narrow and limits the definition of health to the physical and physiological capabilities that are necessary to perform routine tasks.
According to this definition, the individual is healthy if all the body parts, cells, tissues and organ systems are functioning well and there is no apparent dysfunction of the body.
Using this model people view the human body in the same terms as a computer, or mechanical device when something is wrong you take it to experts who maintain it. Physicians, unlike behavioral experts, often focus on treatment and clinical interventions with medication rather than educational interventions to bring about behavior change.
SERENA’S STORY
About two months ago Serena lost her six month old twins. She is grief stricken. She was always slender but now she looks very thin. She cannot sleep, she cannot eat and she doesn’t want to talk to anyone.
Do you think the view of health you have just read about applies to Serena?
This view of health ignores many of the social and psychological causes of ill health. Serena’s grief is not an illness but it is certainly affecting her health.
In the next section we will discuss the broader perspective of health which includes other factors in addition to physical ones.
Broader Perspectives of Health
In the previous section you read about a narrow definition of health. This section will help you understand the concept of health in a broader and more holistic way.
Defining Health
The most widely used of the broader definitions of health is that within the constitution of the World Health Organization (1948), which defines health as: A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This classic definition is important, as it identifies the vital components of health. To more fully understand the meaning of health, it is important to understand each of its individual components
Explanation:
please read it carefully so you can answer it easily :)
carry on learning
stay safe!
