Understanding Health, Disease, and Human Needs

Posted on Dec 8, 2024 in Physical Education

Understanding Health and Disease

Defining Health

According to Virginia Henderson: Health is defined as the individual’s ability to function independently in relation to the fourteen basic needs, similar to Maslow’s hierarchy.

According to Dorothy Pray: Health is a concept inseparable from physical, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors.

According to Peplau: Health consists of interpersonal and psychological conditions that interact. It is supported through interpersonal processes.

According to WHO: Health is “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.”

According to Callista Roy: Adaptation is the maintenance of physiological, psychological, and social integrity.

Defining Disease

Disease is a process and the consequent status of a living condition characterized by an alteration of its ontological status of health. The state and/or disease process can be caused by many factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic. It is a loss of health, an alteration or deviation from the physiological state in one or more parts of the body, generally of known etiology, manifested by characteristic symptoms and signs, and whose development is more or less predictable.

Factors Involved in Health

Physical Factors:

  • Food
  • Physical Activity
  • Clothing
  • Biological factors (genetics)
  • Diseases at a physiological level
  • Hygiene
  • Care of the body against external factors (humidity, temperature changes, etc.)

Psychological Factors:

  • Mental illness (disability, schizophrenia, autism, Down syndrome, etc.)
  • Psychological state (depression, stress, anxiety, etc.)
  • Other factors such as inferiority complex, lack of personal security, self-confidence, etc. (self-concept)

Social Factors:

  • Relationships outside of work (social security)
  • Customs and particular habits
  • Group relationships (intra- and intergroup)
  • Fashions, customs, habits, etc.
  • Macro-micro models (salaries)
  • Educational, social, and economic policies
  • Security, justice, and law
  • Organizations and related industries
  • Ethical values and ethics
  • Voluntary and forced migration (wars, plagues, etc.)
  • Conditions of general security

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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Levels of Prevention

The levels of prevention are:

  1. Primary Prevention: Aims to prevent the initiation of pathological processes.
  2. Secondary Prevention: Limits the progression of disease processes and prevents damage.
  3. Tertiary Prevention: Limits damage, limits sequelae, and rehabilitates the health system functions in relation to levels of prevention.

The Concept of a Problem

  • A problem is something that disturbs the initial point of the chain: Research-Problem-Solving.
  • Difficulties of a personal or emotional nature.

Types of Needs

  • Physical: Vital needs. Example: Eating.
  • Psychic: Sometimes created by the mind, sometimes innate, and sometimes acquired. Example: Considering a career.
  • Passive: Generate a taste or pleasure. Example: Laughter.
  • Negative: Cause an upset or displeasure. Example: Work.
  • Acquired: Generated by a group based on custom or tradition. Example: Dressing.
  • Permanent: Last a lifetime. Example: Breathing.
  • Periodic: Last a while and then disappear. Example: Exercising.
  • Occasional: Appear only sometimes and can be repeated. Example: Curing a disease.
  • Present and Future: Working today to meet needs tomorrow. Example: Studying for work.
  • Individual: Can be met without help from others. Example: Pursuing a career.
  • Collective: Require help from others to be satisfied. Example: Belonging to a group.

Prepathogenic Period

It has two levels:

Health Promotion: Usually not directed at a specific disease but at the area of health.

  • Guide the individual on their roles in the family, at work, and in society.
  • Promote family planning and sex education for couples.
  • Empower families in nutrition surveillance.

Specific Protection: Involves the application of specific procedures and precautions to stop the causes of a specific disease before it is submitted through periodic medical examinations for all family members.

Pathogenic Period

This phase includes the development of the disease after the interaction between the stimulus and the host, in whom organic and functional changes occur. It consists of two stages: the subclinical stage, where symptoms, if present, are minimal and nonspecific, and the clinical stage, where a wide range of signs and symptoms are recognizable and may have consequences.

The Needs According to Virginia Henderson

These are:

  1. Breathe normally.
  2. Eat and drink properly.