Definition of Health (Nursing)

00:01 Okay, so let's talk about health and wellness.

00:04 The foundation of it all for us as human beings.

00:07 So, our health and wellness, as you may know, definitely impacts our quality of life, so we're gonna look at health and also illness, and all of the factors that go into that and how it can affect the individual.

00:21 So, first of all, let's define health.

00:24 The World Health Organization define health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being; and not merely the absence of disease.

00:35 So, when we're looking at this definition, this definitely encompasses how nursing looks at health as well for our patients, so you notice that this is a holistic view.

00:46 So, who is WHO? It is a World Health Organization and this organization is responsible for international public issues and addresses global health concerns.

00:57 So, when we are considering the health of the individual, each person will view their health differently, so let's take a look at those factors.

01:07 So, first of all, it could be your personality.

01:10 This could mean a lot of things, so it could mean how you think, how you feel, are you high strung or are you a stressor.

01:16 If you're watching this video, you're probably in nursing school so your probably are -- that's okay, we all are.

01:22 So the other thing you may be a little bit more go with the flow.

01:26 Also, when someone is delivering health information to you, you may be a Googler, that's okay, so it's just all part of our personality and can definitely affect our health and our perception of it.

01:38 So, one thing that considers is our lifestyle. So, where are you living? Are you living in a high city, lots of traffic, lots of high stress, lots of pollutants," that can now definitely affect us.

01:50 Or, are you living out somewhere in a rural population, maybe less pollutants, maybe near the water, maybe somewhere in Hawaii.

01:58 Or, think about your occupation.

02:00 So, obviously, if you're watching this video, then we're definitely looking into health care, and as you all know, there's definitely some stressors that come with that.

02:09 Now, next, let's consider the culture.

02:12 This can affect the way that we treat illness, the treatments that we seek.

02:17 Also, even our dietary habits and maybe even our food sources.

02:22 So not only culture, but our ethnicity.

02:25 This can predispose us to certain health conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and maybe even osteoporosis.

02:33 A great example of this is Asians with their food source usually have a low calcium diet and with their small frame it'll definitely put them at risk for osteoporosis.

02:44 Let's think about our age, the older we get we definitely value our health a little bit more than probably when we were younger adult, so I can tell you as I've gotten older, I definitely think about doing more doctor's visits, maintaining vaccinations, really watching about healthy lifestyle and being active.

03:02 These are things I probably wasn't as focused on as a younger adult.

03:07 Also, we're not considering maybe those choices as a younger adult is gonna affect us as an older person.

03:13 And lastly, let's think about our values.

03:15 These are going to play some importance on maintaining our health, and those habits that contribute to our individual health.

03:22 So, we just talked about health and there's many factors that influence a person's belief on health.

03:28 So, when we're looking at the slide set, think about the internal influences and your external influences that's going to change your view point.

03:37 So, for example, internally, we a lot of times gotta consider the person's developmental age.

03:43 So, depending on their age and maybe their level of understanding, this is gonna affect how we feel and what we think about our illness.

03:52 We also have to consider intellectual background.

03:56 What's the current knowledge of the disease process and are they able to understand all of the consequences and the risks, and maybe the complications with that disease process.

04:08 What's our perception of functioning? Also, what about our emotional and our spiritual factors internally? Next, let's think about those outside influences.

04:20 So, think about how your family is gonna shape your health.

04:24 So, if your family, maybe we like to go eat pizza every week or every night or maybe we really love our McDonald's, this is all going to be healthy habits or unhealthy habits that are gonna affect you as an individual.

04:38 It's also gonna shape your individual choices.

04:41 Let's think about socio-economic factors.

04:44 Now, this is a whole slide set within itself.

04:47 So, socio-economic factor plays a lot of pieces on someone's health and their choices.

04:53 So, first of all, do they have access to health care? Also, maybe, the family's gotta consider, hey, do we do food, or do we do shelter or do we pay for health insurance? So sometimes, with different socio-economic factors, food and shelter maybe the priority.

05:11 And let's think about the cultural background.

05:14 So healing methods are gonna be different, maybe even the feeling of taking on Western medicine.

05:20 Is the patient going to seek out traditional health care or not? So, all of these factors are gonna play a role.