Week 1

Question 1

What is health?

Answer 1

the overall condition of the body or mind and the presence or absence of illness or injury

Question 2

What is illness?

Answer 2

condition characterized by signs, symptoms, and disabilities, varying in severity

Question 3

What is the difference between a sign and symptom?

Answer 3

sign is something anyone can observe

symptom is something experienced by the patient

Question 4

What is wellness?

Answer 4

optimal health and vitality, encompassing all the dimensions of well-being

Question 5

What are risk factors?

Answer 5

conditions that increase a person’s chances of disease or injury

Question 6

What is health promotion?

Answer 6

a process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health

Question 7

What is the difference between modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors?

Answer 7

modifiable: have control over
- ex. smoking, diet, unsafe sex

non-modifiable: no control
- ex. disability, race, sex

Question 8

What are the 6 dimensions of health? Give a few examples of actions for each.

Answer 8

physical
- diet, exercise, safe sex, regular checkups

emotional
- trust, self-esteem, optimism, ability to accept and understand feelings

intellectual
- openness to new ideas, critical thinking, sense of humour, creativity

interpersonal
- communication skills, capacity for intimacy, ability to establish and maintain satisfying relationships

spiritual
- capacity for love, sense of meaning and purpose, fulfillment, joy

environment
- having abundant natural resources, maintaining sustainable development, reducing pollution and waste

Question 9

What are some examples of major public health advancements?

Answer 9

vaccinations for childhood disease
fluoridation of drinking water
motor vehicle safety
safer workplaces
family planning
recognition of tobacco as a health hazard

Question 10

What are chronic diseases?

Answer 10

diseases that develop and continue over a long period, such as heart disease or cancer

anything longer than a year

Question 11

What are acute diseases?

Answer 11

diseases that last a short time, come on rapidly, and are accompanied by distinct symptoms

Question 12

What are lifestyle choices?

Answer 12

conscious behaviours that can increase or decrease a person’s risk of disease or injury

ex. healthy diet, smoking, exercising

give us some control and may alter our risk for disease

Question 13

What are the top 3 causes of death in the general population?

Answer 13

cancer
heart disease
accidents/unintentional injuries

Question 14

What is the #1 cause of death for 15-24 year olds?

Answer 14

accidents and unintentional injuries

Question 15

Who were the Ancient Greek philosophers? What was their perspective on health?

Answer 15

Hippocrates, Galen

Humoural theory of illness
- illness arises when blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm are out of balance

Question 16

What did Rene Descartes contribute to health theory?

Answer 16

mind-body connection

one system? two systems that interact? unsure

Question 17

Who were the key “modern” scientists? What did they contribute to health theory?

Answer 17

Frued, Pavlov, etc.

increased focus on psychology and biology

biological symptoms have social, psychological, and environmental components

Question 18

What are the 3 key models for viewing health and illness?

Answer 18

biomedical
psychological
environmental

Question 19

What is the biomedical model of health?

Answer 19

reductionistic

• illness = biological process
• ex. pathogens, hormonal imbalance, genetic anomaly
• you ARE the condition

outcomes: primary focus on disease prevention, treatment, and eradication

view health as the absence of disease, little attention to psychological and environmental factors

Question 20

What is the psychological model of health?

Answer 20

people play a critical role in maintaining their own health
- ex. stress and lifestyle management, behaviour modification

illness trajectory depends on knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, choice to participate in health-promoting behaviours

close connection to emotional status
- ex. link between mental illnesses/stress and physical illness

Question 21

What is the environmental model of health?

Answer 21

social and physical surroundings lead to individual health

chemical pollution, sanitation, neighbourhood safety, medical services, natural disasters, etc.

learned behaviours from others, media, etc. (nature vs. nurture)

government promotes health through law enforcement, agency funding, education, etc.

Question 22

What is the biopsychoenvironmental model?

Answer 22

aka biopsychosocial model

none of these 3 models alone are good enough to provide sound description of health

they all interact

Question 23

What are the levels of the systems theory and social ecological model? (going from the centre to the outside)

Answer 23

individual
- sex, age, interests

interpersonal
- family, peers, health care workers

community
- schools, parks, community centres

organizational
- mass media, social systems

environmental
- cultural norms, government policies

Question 24

What is the evidence for age as a social construct?

Answer 24

changes over time seemed to accelerate around industrialization

• smaller families
• less interaction with seniors
• more likely to live in cities; loss of status for rural seniors
• children less likely to work at young age
• later marriage/parenthood/property ownership

people living longer -> experiencing different illnesses over time

Question 25

What makes age a dynamic variable?

Answer 25

influenced by current and past events

multidimensional (biological, cognitive, socioemotional, behavioural, environmental changes)

Question 26

How does health change across the lifespan? What are the connotations around this?

Answer 26

self-reported health decreases over time while acute and chronic illnesses increase over time

but who is to say one age group is healthier than another?
- ex. is a child healthier than an adult because they have fewer years of physical breakdown, or is an adult healthier than a child because their immune system is more developed?