Health and Social
AO1
Research carried out on views of different concepts and models of health and well-being.
In 1948, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that health was “State of complete physical; mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” 1However this definition of ‘Health’ received a lot of criticism as it was too vague and not enough description to satisfy the term, it was said that there was not enough explanation on other aspects, for example what a state of complete well-being is. When reading the definition it didn’t concentrate on the holistic view of health. In 1948 with the criticism it received the World Health Organisation renewed the meaning of the term to, “The extent to which an individual or group is able, on the one hand, to realise aspirations and satisfy needs, and on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living: it is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities.”2 This updated meaning of health got a better response to the previous one as, health is not the main objective in life, it is not the main aim of living. It refers to all aspects of health, and gives off a positive vibe as it does not focus on illness. The new meaning of health shows that people have many different types of perspectives on health. There are many views on whether it is impossible to have one single definition of health. Many agree because a person’s environment will always contribute to health, e.g. what type of house they live in, what area it is based in and the background they come from. Health means different things in different cultures, meaning the definition of health it is not the same all over the world, it may be developed in the western world, but may not be useful in the east due to different cultural beliefs and what they personally believe the
Research carried out on views of different concepts and models of health and well-being.
In 1948, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that health was “State of complete physical; mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” 1However this definition of ‘Health’ received a lot of criticism as it was too vague and not enough description to satisfy the term, it was said that there was not enough explanation on other aspects, for example what a state of complete well-being is. When reading the definition it didn’t concentrate on the holistic view of health. In 1948 with the criticism it received the World Health Organisation renewed the meaning of the term to, “The extent to which an individual or group is able, on the one hand, to realise aspirations and satisfy needs, and on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living: it is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities.”2 This updated meaning of health got a better response to the previous one as, health is not the main objective in life, it is not the main aim of living. It refers to all aspects of health, and gives off a positive vibe as it does not focus on illness. The new meaning of health shows that people have many different types of perspectives on health. There are many views on whether it is impossible to have one single definition of health. Many agree because a person’s environment will always contribute to health, e.g. what type of house they live in, what area it is based in and the background they come from. Health means different things in different cultures, meaning the definition of health it is not the same all over the world, it may be developed in the western world, but may not be useful in the east due to different cultural beliefs and what they personally believe the