Your Personal Responsibility B.E. Pruitt, Ed.D. Texas A&M University.

Your Personal Responsibility

B.E. Pruitt, Ed.D.

Texas A&M University

Defining Health• Health

• A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being

• World Health Organization’s (WHO) recognition of health as a measure of well-being and not simply the absence of disease established a new paradigm.

• The WHO definition has become a guidepost for health promotion worldwide.

Defining Health

• Holistic Health• The concept of health involving physical,

mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental aspects of an individual as well as of the community.

• Taking a holistic approach to your health means that the whole is greater than the individual parts.

Defining Health

Defining Health

• Wellness• A description of health that includes the

human potential for a high level of well-being while taking into consideration environmental and personal limitations

• This concept of wellness goes beyond the WHO definition by viewing one’s personal health potential on a illness/wellness continuum.

Defining Health

Becoming Healthy• You become healthy through developing

healthy behaviors.• This assumes that you are healthy and that

you move to a stronger position of health by taking health-promoting actions.

• You become more healthy through behavior change.• You undergo a change in lifestyle or take

specific actions that result in a healthier state.

Becoming Healthy

• Health Knowledge• The accumulation of factual

information that influences health decision making.

Becoming Healthy

• Health Skills • Abilities that influence health development,

health status, and health maintenance. Health skills are categorized as:•Motor skills•Intellectual skills•Emotional skills•Social skills

Becoming Healthy• Health Behavior

Consists of actions and habits that may lead either to enhancement and protection of a person’s health status or to its decline•Preventive Behavior consists of actions

taken by a person who is essentially healthy in order to remain healthy.

• Illness Behavior consists of actions taken by a person who has reason to believe that he or she is not well.

•Sick-Role Behavior consists of actions taken by a person who has been diagnosed as sick.

Assessing Your Personal Health

• Self-Assessment occurs when an individual collects and interprets his/her own health-related baseline data.

Establish a baseline (what is “normal” for you) through periodic assessments.

• Medical Assessment is conducted by a medical professional and focuses on diagnosing a disease or other medical condition.

Assessing Your Personal Health

• Self-Assessment• Self-assessment involves the observation of

three crucial markers: •Body temperature•Pulse rate•Body weight

Assessing Your Personal Health

• Medical AssessmentThree different assessments used by medical professionals are:•Health History: includes a variety of

measures including past and current diseases, injuries, other health-related experiences, allergies, tetanus status, family history.

•Physical Examinations: through auscultation (listening) and palpation (touching), a physician can discover abnormalities that indicate the likelihood of disease.

•Laboratory Tests: involve examining materials taken from the body, such as blood and urine.

Assessing Your Personal Health

• Defining Health Risks• Health Risks refer to the likelihood of having a

certain health condition.• Risk Factors are conditions or habits that put

a person in danger of negative health occurrences; identified as modifiable (controllable) or not modifiable (uncontrollable).

Assessing Your Personal Health

• Keeping Good Health Records• Establish an accurate and accessible record-

keeping system that includes:•Vaccination record •Disease diagnoses •Prescriptions

• Health-promoting activities: •Exercise schedule (how much, how often)•Dietary record (fat intake)•Sleep patterns

Establishing a Personal Health Style

• Health StyleThe sum of health knowledge, health skills, and health behavior. Health style is most easily observed in personal health decisions.

Establishing a Personal Health Style• Health Value

• Something of importance that is related to health

• Health Attitude• A behavioral intention concerning health, usually

expressed in positive or negative terms• Health Belief

• A health-related concept thought to be true whether supported by evidence or not

• Health Momentum• A perception of movement toward or away from

good health that results from decisions and health behaviors of the past

Establishing a Personal Health Style

Establishing a Personal Health Style

Establishing a Personal Health Style

Prevention: The Best Alternative• Prevention

Taking health-promoting action to reduce the risk of disease and injury

Prevention: The Best Alternative

• Preventive BehaviorsPositive actions that consistently contribute to a healthier and longer life. They include six behaviors:

1. Avoid the use of tobacco.2. Exercise on a routine basis.3. Maintain normal body weight.4. Drink alcohol in moderation.5. Practice safer sex.6. Wear a seat belt.

Prevention: The Best Alternative

• Your health is your responsibility. Acting responsibly involves: • Common-sense decisions made by a health-

literate person• The use of health skills that develop with

practice• Health behaviors that enhance rather than

compromise health