Intro to public Health
Introduction
Broadly defined, a community is a collection of people who interact with one another and whose common interest or characteristics gives them a sense of unity and belonging.
- A community is a group of people in defined geographical area with common goal and objective and the potential for interacting with one another (Dryer’s den).
The function of any community includes its members’ sense of belonging and shared identity, values, norms, communication, and supporting behaviors. Some communities who may share almost everything, while other communities (large, scattered and composed of individuals) who may share only there common interests and involvement in certain goals.
A community is often defined by its geographic boundaries and thus called a geographic community. Example, a city, town or neighborhood is a geographic community. A community demarcated by geographic boundaries becomes a clear target for analysis of health needs to form basis for planning health programs and a geographic community is also easily mobilized for action.
Community can also be identified by a common interest or goal. A collection of people, although they are widely scattered geographically, can have an interest or goal that binds the members-together called common interest community. (e.g., Disabled individual scattered through out a large city may emerge as a community through a common interest in their need for improved wheel chaired access or other handicapped facilities)
The Three Features of a Community
A community has three features, location, population and social system.
Location: every physical community carries out its daily existence in a specific geographical location. The health of the community is affected by this location, including the placement of the service, the geographical features…
Population: consists of specialized aggregates, but all of the diversed people who live with in the boundary of the community.
Social system: the various parts of communities’ social system that interact and include the heath system, family system, economic system and educational system.
Health
Health is defined as a state of physical, mental and social well being not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 1948). Health, in its holistic philosophy differs greatly from that of the acute care settings. Physical health implies a mechanistic functioning of the body. Mental health means the ability to think clearly and coherently and has to do with your thinking and feeling and how you deal with your problem. A mentally healthy person has a capacity to live with other people, to understand their needs, and to achieve mutually satisfying relationships. Social health refers to the ability to:
Make and maintain relationship with others:
Interact well with people and the environment.
Health designates the ability to adopt to changing environments to growing up and to aging, to healing when damaged, to suffering and to peaceful expectation of death (lllich 1975). The ability of a system (e.g. Cell, organism, family, society) to respond adaptively to a wide variety of environmental challenges (Brody and Sobel, 1981). Lamberton (1978) sees the opposite of health as being no health and the opposite of illness as being no disease. Furthermore, death is not viewed as the ultimate illness but as a natural part of growth and development. She also considers an individual’s interaction with ecology as being an important influence on health and on illness. Health is also conceptualized as a source for every day living. It is a positive idea that emphasizes social and personal resources and physical in abilities.
Health and Wellness
Health
Each person has a personal perception of health. Some people describe their state of health as good even though they may actually have one or more diagnosed illness (es). That is because each person perceives health in relation to personal expectations and values The concept of health must allow for his individual variability. Health is a dynamic state in which the person is constantly adapting to changes in the internal and external environments. For example, a person may see himself/herself as healthy while experiencing a respiratory infection.
Wellness
Wellness is a life – style aimed at achieving physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and environmental well being. The use of wellness measures can increase stamina, energy and self – esteem, then enhance quality of life. The concept of wellness also allows for individual variability. Wellness can be thought of a balance of the physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of a person’s life. This is a dynamic state. Each person would define wellness in relation to personal expectations. Wellness behaviors are those that promote healthy functioning and help prevent illness. These include, for example, stress management, nutritional awareness, and physical fitness.
Models of Health
There are various models of the concept of health. Some models are based narrowly on the presence or absence of definable illness. Others are based more conceptually on health beliefs, wellness and holism.
A. Clinical Model (Dunn, 1961) In this model, health is interpreted as the absence of signs and symptoms of disease or injury; thus the opposite of health is disease. Dunn defined, in this model, “health as a relatively passive state of freedom from illness, and a condition of relative homeostasis.” Illness is therefore, something that happens to a person. Many health care providers focus on the belief of signs and symptoms of disease and conclude that when these are no longer present, the person is healthy. N.B. This model may not take into consideration person’s health beliefs or person life- styles.
B. Host –Agent – Environment Model (Leavell, 1965) This model helps to identify the cause of an illness. In this model:
Host: Refers to the person (or group) who may be at risk for or susceptible to an illness.
Agent: is any factor (internal or external) that can lead to illness by its presence.
Environment: refers to those factors (physical, social, economic, emotional, spiritual) that may create the likelihood or the predisposition for the person to develop disease.
C. Health Belief Model (HBM) (Rosenstock, 1974, as Modified by Stone 1991). There is a relationship between a person’s belief and actions. Factors that influence persons belief’s:
Personal expectation in relation to health and illness
Earlier experience with illness or health
Age and development state.
Health beliefs are person’s ideas, convictions and attitudes about health and illness. They may be based on factual information, misinformation, commonsense or myths, or reality or false expectations. Health beliefs usually influence health behavior this influence can be positive or negative.
D. High – Level Wellness Model (Dunn, 1961) According to Dunn (1961), health recognized as an ongoing process toward the person’s highest potential functioning. This process involves the person, family, and Community. Dunn described high level wellness as the experience of the person alive with the glow of good health, alive to the tips of their fingers with energy to burn, tingling with vitality – at times like this the world is a glorious place.
E. Holistic Health Model Holism is seen as a “new” model of health, but actually it is not new at all. Holism has been a major theme in the humanities, western political tradition and major religions throughout history. Holism is a different approach to health is that acknowledges and respects the interaction of a person’s mind, body and spirit within the environment. Holism is derived from the Greek holos (whole), was first used by South African philosopher Jan Christian Smuts (1926) in Holism and Evolution. Smuts viewed holism as antidote to the automistic approach of contemporary science. An automistic approach takes things apart, examining the person piece by piece in an attempt to understand the larger picture by examining the smaller molecule or atom. Holism is based on the belief that people (or even their parts) cannot be fully understood if examined solely in pieces apart from their environment. People are seen as every changing systems of energy. Below figure illustrates, the organism and the system in which it lives are seen as greater than and different from the sum of their parts.
Health and illness
Rather than focusing on curing illnesses, community based nursing care focuses on promoting health and preventing illness. This holistic philosophy therefore differs greatly from that of the acute care setting. Improvement of health is not seen as an outcome of the amount and type of medical services or the size of the hospital. Care provided in acute care setting is usually directed at resolving immediate health problems. In the community, care focuses on maximizing individual potential for self-care regardless of any injury or illness. The client assumes responsibility for health care decisions and care provision. Where health is the essence of care, the client’s ability to function becomes the primary concern. Educational and community based programs can be designed to address life- style. Health protection strategies relate to environmental or regulatory measures that confer protection on large population groups. Health protection involves a community wide focus. Preventive services include counseling, screening, immunization, or chemoprophylactic interventions for individuals in clinical settings. The prevention focus is a key concept of community based nursing. Prevention is conceptualized on three levels:
Primary prevention level
Secondary prevention level
Tertiary prevention level
Health – illness continuum
The wellness- illness continuum (Travis and Ryan 1988) is a visual comparison of high – level wellness and traditional medicine’s view of wellness. At the neutral point, there are no signs or symptoms of disease. A person moving toward the left experiences a worsening state of health. Someone with wellness – oriented goals wants to more beyond the neutral point (more absence of disease) to the right (toward high – level wellness). This person evaluates the current conduct of his/her life, learns about the available options, and grows toward self – actualization by tying out of these options in the search of high level wellness.
Community health Practice
It is part of the larger public health effort that is concerned with preserving and promoting the health of specific populations and communities. Community health practice incorporates six basic elements:
Promotion of health
It includes all efforts that seek to move people closer to optimal well-being or higher level of wellness.
It is the combination of educational and environmental supports for action and condition of living conducive to health.
Prevention of health problems (refer to unit three for the details) Treatment of disorders
It focuses on the illness end of continuum and is the remedial aspects of community health practice. This is practiced by:
a. Direct service to people with health problems; E.g. home visit for elderly peoples, chronic illness, etc
b. Indirect service; e.g. assisting people with health problem to obtain treatment and referral.
c. Development of program to correct unhealthy condition; e.g. alcoholism, drug abuse, etc.
Rehabilitation It involves efforts which seek to reduce disabilities, as much as possible, and restore functions; e.g. stroke rehabilitation.
Evaluation It is the process by which the practice is analyzed, judged, and improved according to established goals and standards. • It helps to solve problems and provides direction for future health care planning.
Research It is a systematic investigation which helps to discover facts affecting community health and community health practices, solve problems, and explore improved methods of health services.
Community health Nursing
It is defined as the synthesis of nursing and public health practice applied to promoting and protecting the health of population. It is a specialized field of nursing that focuses on the health needs of communities, aggregates, and in particular vulnerable populations. It is a practice that is continuous and comprehensive directed towards all groups of community members. It combines all the basic elements of professional, clinical nursing with public health and community practice. It synthesizes the body of knowledge from public health science and professional nursing theories to improve the health of communities.
Characteristics of Community health Nursing
Six important characteristics of community health nursing are particularly salient to the practice of this specialty.
It is a specialty field of nursing
Its practice combines public health with nursing
it is population focused.
it emphasizes on wellness and other than disease or illness
it involves inter-disciplinary collaboration
it promotes client’s responsibility and self-care
Public Health Nursing
It is the art and science of prolonging life, promoting health and preventing disease through organization of community efforts. Public health nursing refers to composition of nursing services and health promotion of the population.
It is aimed to:
improve sanitation
control of community epidemics
prevent the transmission of infection
provide education about the basic principles of personal hygiene
organize medical and nursing services for early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases.
Broadly defined, a community is a collection of people who interact with one another and whose common interest or characteristics gives them a sense of unity and belonging.
- A community is a group of people in defined geographical area with common goal and objective and the potential for interacting with one another (Dryer’s den).
The function of any community includes its members’ sense of belonging and shared identity, values, norms, communication, and supporting behaviors. Some communities who may share almost everything, while other communities (large, scattered and composed of individuals) who may share only there common interests and involvement in certain goals.
A community is often defined by its geographic boundaries and thus called a geographic community. Example, a city, town or neighborhood is a geographic community. A community demarcated by geographic boundaries becomes a clear target for analysis of health needs to form basis for planning health programs and a geographic community is also easily mobilized for action.
Community can also be identified by a common interest or goal. A collection of people, although they are widely scattered geographically, can have an interest or goal that binds the members-together called common interest community. (e.g., Disabled individual scattered through out a large city may emerge as a community through a common interest in their need for improved wheel chaired access or other handicapped facilities)
The Three Features of a Community
A community has three features, location, population and social system.
Location: every physical community carries out its daily existence in a specific geographical location. The health of the community is affected by this location, including the placement of the service, the geographical features…
Population: consists of specialized aggregates, but all of the diversed people who live with in the boundary of the community.
Social system: the various parts of communities’ social system that interact and include the heath system, family system, economic system and educational system.
Health
Health is defined as a state of physical, mental and social well being not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 1948). Health, in its holistic philosophy differs greatly from that of the acute care settings. Physical health implies a mechanistic functioning of the body. Mental health means the ability to think clearly and coherently and has to do with your thinking and feeling and how you deal with your problem. A mentally healthy person has a capacity to live with other people, to understand their needs, and to achieve mutually satisfying relationships. Social health refers to the ability to:
Make and maintain relationship with others:
Interact well with people and the environment.
Health designates the ability to adopt to changing environments to growing up and to aging, to healing when damaged, to suffering and to peaceful expectation of death (lllich 1975). The ability of a system (e.g. Cell, organism, family, society) to respond adaptively to a wide variety of environmental challenges (Brody and Sobel, 1981). Lamberton (1978) sees the opposite of health as being no health and the opposite of illness as being no disease. Furthermore, death is not viewed as the ultimate illness but as a natural part of growth and development. She also considers an individual’s interaction with ecology as being an important influence on health and on illness. Health is also conceptualized as a source for every day living. It is a positive idea that emphasizes social and personal resources and physical in abilities.
Health and Wellness
Health
Each person has a personal perception of health. Some people describe their state of health as good even though they may actually have one or more diagnosed illness (es). That is because each person perceives health in relation to personal expectations and values The concept of health must allow for his individual variability. Health is a dynamic state in which the person is constantly adapting to changes in the internal and external environments. For example, a person may see himself/herself as healthy while experiencing a respiratory infection.
Wellness
Wellness is a life – style aimed at achieving physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and environmental well being. The use of wellness measures can increase stamina, energy and self – esteem, then enhance quality of life. The concept of wellness also allows for individual variability. Wellness can be thought of a balance of the physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of a person’s life. This is a dynamic state. Each person would define wellness in relation to personal expectations. Wellness behaviors are those that promote healthy functioning and help prevent illness. These include, for example, stress management, nutritional awareness, and physical fitness.
Models of Health
There are various models of the concept of health. Some models are based narrowly on the presence or absence of definable illness. Others are based more conceptually on health beliefs, wellness and holism.
A. Clinical Model (Dunn, 1961) In this model, health is interpreted as the absence of signs and symptoms of disease or injury; thus the opposite of health is disease. Dunn defined, in this model, “health as a relatively passive state of freedom from illness, and a condition of relative homeostasis.” Illness is therefore, something that happens to a person. Many health care providers focus on the belief of signs and symptoms of disease and conclude that when these are no longer present, the person is healthy. N.B. This model may not take into consideration person’s health beliefs or person life- styles.
B. Host –Agent – Environment Model (Leavell, 1965) This model helps to identify the cause of an illness. In this model:
Host: Refers to the person (or group) who may be at risk for or susceptible to an illness.
Agent: is any factor (internal or external) that can lead to illness by its presence.
Environment: refers to those factors (physical, social, economic, emotional, spiritual) that may create the likelihood or the predisposition for the person to develop disease.
C. Health Belief Model (HBM) (Rosenstock, 1974, as Modified by Stone 1991). There is a relationship between a person’s belief and actions. Factors that influence persons belief’s:
Personal expectation in relation to health and illness
Earlier experience with illness or health
Age and development state.
Health beliefs are person’s ideas, convictions and attitudes about health and illness. They may be based on factual information, misinformation, commonsense or myths, or reality or false expectations. Health beliefs usually influence health behavior this influence can be positive or negative.
D. High – Level Wellness Model (Dunn, 1961) According to Dunn (1961), health recognized as an ongoing process toward the person’s highest potential functioning. This process involves the person, family, and Community. Dunn described high level wellness as the experience of the person alive with the glow of good health, alive to the tips of their fingers with energy to burn, tingling with vitality – at times like this the world is a glorious place.
E. Holistic Health Model Holism is seen as a “new” model of health, but actually it is not new at all. Holism has been a major theme in the humanities, western political tradition and major religions throughout history. Holism is a different approach to health is that acknowledges and respects the interaction of a person’s mind, body and spirit within the environment. Holism is derived from the Greek holos (whole), was first used by South African philosopher Jan Christian Smuts (1926) in Holism and Evolution. Smuts viewed holism as antidote to the automistic approach of contemporary science. An automistic approach takes things apart, examining the person piece by piece in an attempt to understand the larger picture by examining the smaller molecule or atom. Holism is based on the belief that people (or even their parts) cannot be fully understood if examined solely in pieces apart from their environment. People are seen as every changing systems of energy. Below figure illustrates, the organism and the system in which it lives are seen as greater than and different from the sum of their parts.
Health and illness
Rather than focusing on curing illnesses, community based nursing care focuses on promoting health and preventing illness. This holistic philosophy therefore differs greatly from that of the acute care setting. Improvement of health is not seen as an outcome of the amount and type of medical services or the size of the hospital. Care provided in acute care setting is usually directed at resolving immediate health problems. In the community, care focuses on maximizing individual potential for self-care regardless of any injury or illness. The client assumes responsibility for health care decisions and care provision. Where health is the essence of care, the client’s ability to function becomes the primary concern. Educational and community based programs can be designed to address life- style. Health protection strategies relate to environmental or regulatory measures that confer protection on large population groups. Health protection involves a community wide focus. Preventive services include counseling, screening, immunization, or chemoprophylactic interventions for individuals in clinical settings. The prevention focus is a key concept of community based nursing. Prevention is conceptualized on three levels:
Primary prevention level
Secondary prevention level
Tertiary prevention level
Health – illness continuum
The wellness- illness continuum (Travis and Ryan 1988) is a visual comparison of high – level wellness and traditional medicine’s view of wellness. At the neutral point, there are no signs or symptoms of disease. A person moving toward the left experiences a worsening state of health. Someone with wellness – oriented goals wants to more beyond the neutral point (more absence of disease) to the right (toward high – level wellness). This person evaluates the current conduct of his/her life, learns about the available options, and grows toward self – actualization by tying out of these options in the search of high level wellness.
Community health Practice
It is part of the larger public health effort that is concerned with preserving and promoting the health of specific populations and communities. Community health practice incorporates six basic elements:
Promotion of health
It includes all efforts that seek to move people closer to optimal well-being or higher level of wellness.
It is the combination of educational and environmental supports for action and condition of living conducive to health.
Prevention of health problems (refer to unit three for the details) Treatment of disorders
It focuses on the illness end of continuum and is the remedial aspects of community health practice. This is practiced by:
a. Direct service to people with health problems; E.g. home visit for elderly peoples, chronic illness, etc
b. Indirect service; e.g. assisting people with health problem to obtain treatment and referral.
c. Development of program to correct unhealthy condition; e.g. alcoholism, drug abuse, etc.
Rehabilitation It involves efforts which seek to reduce disabilities, as much as possible, and restore functions; e.g. stroke rehabilitation.
Evaluation It is the process by which the practice is analyzed, judged, and improved according to established goals and standards. • It helps to solve problems and provides direction for future health care planning.
Research It is a systematic investigation which helps to discover facts affecting community health and community health practices, solve problems, and explore improved methods of health services.
Community health Nursing
It is defined as the synthesis of nursing and public health practice applied to promoting and protecting the health of population. It is a specialized field of nursing that focuses on the health needs of communities, aggregates, and in particular vulnerable populations. It is a practice that is continuous and comprehensive directed towards all groups of community members. It combines all the basic elements of professional, clinical nursing with public health and community practice. It synthesizes the body of knowledge from public health science and professional nursing theories to improve the health of communities.
Characteristics of Community health Nursing
Six important characteristics of community health nursing are particularly salient to the practice of this specialty.
It is a specialty field of nursing
Its practice combines public health with nursing
it is population focused.
it emphasizes on wellness and other than disease or illness
it involves inter-disciplinary collaboration
it promotes client’s responsibility and self-care
Public Health Nursing
It is the art and science of prolonging life, promoting health and preventing disease through organization of community efforts. Public health nursing refers to composition of nursing services and health promotion of the population.
It is aimed to:
improve sanitation
control of community epidemics
prevent the transmission of infection
provide education about the basic principles of personal hygiene
organize medical and nursing services for early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases.
Comments
Post a Comment