Chapter 19: Health Perception

Key Terms
disease
etiology
health goals
health-illness continuum
health perception
health promotion
health within illness
illness
population health
preventive health care
primary health care
primary prevention
secondary prevention
tertiary prevention
well-being
wellness

Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
• Describe the perception of health for individuals, families, and communities.
• Compare factors that affect health for individuals, families, and communities.
• Understand the focus of assessment of health in the individual, family, and
community.
• Identify health goals and expected outcomes in planning for individuals, families, and
communities.
• Discuss the use of the nursing diagnosis Health-seeking behaviors.
• Identify methodologies of intervention for improving the health of individuals,
families, and communities.
• Evaluate health outcomes in individuals, families, and communities.

Chapter Outline
CONCEPTS OF HEALTH
Health as a National and an International Goal
Definitions of Health
Health as the Absence of Disease
Health as a Continuum
Health as Wellness and Well-Being
Health in Populations
FACTORS AFFECTING HEALTH
Biology
Social Environment
Behaviors
Physical Environment
Public Policy and Intervention
Assessment
Individual Health
Family Health
Community Health
Focused Assessment for Health-Seeking Behaviors
Diagnosis
Planning
Intervention
Interventions to Promote Health
Designing Health Promotion Activities
Primary Health Care
Interventions to Prevent Illness
Levels of Preventive Care
Methods of Prevention
Evaluation

Key Principles
• Because we are all citizens of the world, health cannot be viewed from only an
individual or a local perspective.
• Health is more than the absence of disease.
• Health exists on a continuum.
• Wellness includes positive physiological function and a sense of well-being.
• Population health considers health problems a person encounters by being a part of a
group and focuses intervention on the population rather than on the individual.
• An individual’s health is affected by many personal, family, and community factors.
• Families are the primary unit of health.
• Community health studies have revealed that health is also affected by changing
conditions in communities.
• Influences from internal and genetic factors and from external sources affect health.
• Assessment of individual health involves physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and
spiritual dimensions.
• Family health assessment requires gathering health data on each member of the family
and on the function of the family as a whole.
• Community assessment uses statistics on population data, statistics on the use of
services, and data that compare community needs with available services.
• The nursing diagnosis Health-seeking behaviors addresses the desire or need for
positive health action by individuals.
• Primary health care consists of all care necessary to people’s lives and health,
including health education, nutrition, sanitation, maternal and child health care,
immunizations, prevention, and control of endemic disease.
• Nurses carry out preventive health care and health promotion in a multitude of ways
each day of nursing practice.