Finally, individualism relates to health as a highly personal phenomenon. The perception of health depends on who you are as a person. To be part of a society and to feel close to some other persons seems to be important to all. Furthermore, values are individual and, as every human being is unique, strategies for improving health must be individualized.
The digital society allows different perspectives to co-exist and dynamically evolve in the different forms of online environment. Subsequently, the different views on health are present online in the same time, competing for attention of the visitors, users, and creators of the digital content.
Some of these ideas, although seemingly new and appealing, frequently represent refurbished historical concepts. Moreover, every public health-related intervention should consider its online context. To be able to identify and recognize the individual understanding of health is important, in particular when this conception of health contradicts recommendations for diseases that need medical intervention.
The plurality of health definitions reflects the variety of contexts in which health is elaborated. It makes sense predominantly inside but not necessarily outside its home context. The conceptualization localizes and attributes identity, content, or meaning.
The definitions of health obviously reflect socially and culturally constructed and tentative categories. The relation between an individual and society is implied in most concepts of health. In particular, in the digital environment, critical analysis of health concepts helps us to understand better health policies and politics and their consequences. As they frequently represent societal powers rather than phenomenological differences, they are accordingly accepted, criticized, or even rejected.
To appreciate concepts and conceptualizations, knowledge has become a key quality in digital society. The health concepts — particularly concepts we use to explain, treat, heal or cope with disease — are words we also use as search tools.
A feature of digital society is that past and present categories and understandings are available at the same time, undermining the traditional western schooling system, where accumulation of past knowledge is understood and acknowledged as predecessor to present, updated knowledge.
Subsequently, public information and public interventions in regard to health should consider this variety of approaches online and thus themselves be explicit and also argue for why and how a particular approach to health is chosen. The definitions of health presented here are also understood as navigation-tools to be applied within online environment. Being aware of them can help the navigator to understand and interpret the information, texts, or documents that occur in online encounters of the health related issues.
National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Croat Med J v. Croat Med J. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. All rights reserved. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Historical overview of attitudes and considerations about health — from concepts of balance to ideas about health as economic category The concept of health as a balance between a person and the environment, the unity of soul and body, and the natural origin of disease, was the backbone of the perception of health in ancient Greece.
Modern concepts of health — from individual to societal risks and back to the individual All modern concepts of health recognize health as more than the absence of disease, implying a maximum capacity of the individual for self-realization and self-fulfillment. Definitions of health by the World Health Organization To establish social welfare and to facilitate, encourage, and secure individual autonomy and dignity are key challenges in the present time and society.
Health definitions at the intersection of technology, medicine, and individuals in the digital society The digital society allows different perspectives to co-exist and dynamically evolve in the different forms of online environment. References 1. Distortion, confusion, and impasses: could a public dialogue within Knowledge Landscapes contribute to better communication and understanding of innovative knowledge?
When communicating health-related knowledge, beware of the black holes of the knowledge landscapes geography. Donev D. Human health — definition, concept and content. How the disease occurs and the natural course of disease. Modern concept and definition of healthcare [In Macedonian]. In: Nikodijevic B, editor. Contemporary diagnostics and therapy in medicine. Skopje: Faculty of Medicine; Grmek MD, Budak A. Introduction to medicine [In Croatian]. Media F. Saint Hildegard of Bingen. Accessed: December 27, Rutter M.
Psychological resilience and protective mechanisms. Am J Orthopsychiatry. The Free Dictionary - Medical dictionary. Holistic health. Antonovsky A. The salutogenic model as a theory to guide health promotion. Health Promot Int.
J Epidemiol Community Health. World Health Organization. About World Health Organization. World Health Report Executive Summary - achieving health for all. Global conferences on health promotion — charters, declarations and other documents: Ottawa , Adelaide , Sundsvall , Jakarta , Mexico and Bangkok Tulchinski T, Varavikova EA.
The new public health. San Diego: Elsevier Academic Press; Noack H. Concepts of health and health promotion. Concept and principles in health promotion. Health promotion and disease prevention. Lage: Hans Jacobs Publishing Co; Toward the fourth dimension of health — the spiritual health.
Vox Medici. Pariser E. The filter bubble: what the Internet is hiding from you. London: Penguin UK; Navigating knowledge landscapes: on health, science, communication, media, and society. Allgaier J, Svalastog AL. The communication aspects of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in western Africa—do we need to counter one, two, or many epidemics?
Assessment of everyday beliefs about health: the lay concepts of health inventory, college student version. Psychol Health. Health Psychol. Many factors combine together to affect the health of individuals and communities.
Whether people are healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment. To a large extent, factors such as where we live, the state of our environment, genetics, our income and education level, and our relationships with friends and family all have considerable impacts on health, whereas the more commonly considered factors by public health movements such as access and use of health care services also have far reaching impact.
Individuals are unlikely to be able to directly control many of the determinants of health. These determinants or things that make people healthy or not include the above factors, and many others:. Income and social status : higher income and social status are linked to better health. The greater the gap between the richest and poorest people, the greater the differences in health. Education : low education levels are linked with poor health, more stress and lower self-confidence. Physical environment : safe water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health.
Employment and working conditions — people in employment are healthier, particularly those who have more control over their working conditions.
Genetics : inheritance plays a part in determining lifespan, healthiness and the likelihood of developing certain illnesses. Gender : Men and women suffer from different types of diseases at different ages. Social support networks : greater support from families, friends and communities is linked to better health.
Culture — customs and traditions, and the beliefs of the family and community all affect health. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Please enable JavaScript! Bitte aktiviere JavaScript! Por favor,activa el JavaScript! Dr Otorkpa.
0コメント