Question

Research the health-illness continuum and its relevance to patient care. In a 750-1,000 word paper, discuss the relevance of the continuum to patient care and present a perspective of your current state of health in relation to the wellness spectrum. Include the following:

1. Examine the health-illness continuum and discuss why this perspective is important to consider in relation to health and the human experience when caring for patients.
2. Explain how understanding the health-illness continuum enables you, as a health care provider, to better promote the value and dignity of individuals or groups and to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing.
3. Reflect on your overall state of health. Discuss what behaviors support or detract from your health and well-being. Explain where you currently fall on the health-illness continuum.
4. Discuss the options and resources available to you to help you move toward wellness on the health-illness spectrum. Describe how these would assist in moving you toward wellness (managing a chronic disease, recovering from an illness, self-actualization, etc

please answer all the questions seperately.. please include references

Answer 1

According to WHO, Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity.

SPECTRUM OF HEALTH

Health and disease lie along a continuum, and single cut off point. The lowest point on the health disease spectrum is death and the highest point corresponds to the WHO definition of positive health. It is thus obvious that health fluctuates within a range of optimum well being to various levels of dysfunction, including the state of total dysfunction, namely the death,. The transition from optimum health to ill-health is often gradual, and where one state ends and other begins is a matter of judgment.

THE spectral concept of health emphasizes that the health of an individual is not static:it is a dynamic phenomenon and a process of continuous change, subject to frequent subtle variations. What is considered maximum health today may be minimum tomorrow. That is a person may function at maximum levels of health today, and diminished levels of health tomorrow. It implies that health is a state not to be attained once and for all, but ever to be renewed. There are degrees or "levels of health " as there are degrees or severity of illness. As long as we are alive there is some degree of health in us.

THE HEALTH SICKNESS SPECTRUM

. POSITIVE HEALTH

BETTER HEALTH

FREEDOM FROM SICKNESS

................................................

UNRECOGNIZED SICKNESS

MILD SICKNESS

SEVERE SICKNESS

DEATH

CONCEPTS OF CONTROL

1,(disease control)... The term disease control describes operations aimed at reducing, the incidence of disease, the duration of disease, and consequently the risk of transmission, the effect of infection including both the physical and psychosocial complications and the financial burden to the community. 2,(disease elimination).... Between control anf eradication an intermediate goal has been described called regional elimination. 3,(disease eradication)... Eradication of disease implies termination of the infectious agent. 4,(monitoring and surveillance).. Monitoring is the performance and analysis of routine measurements aimed at detecting changes in the environment of health status of population..... Surveillance is defined as the continuous scrutiny of the factors that determine the occurrence and distribution of disease and other conditions of ill-health. 5(,sentinel surveillance).. No routine notification can identify all cases of infection or disease. A method for identifying the missing cases and thereby supplementing the notified cases is required. This is known as sentinel surveillance. 6(,evaluation of control)... Evaluation is the process by which results are compared with the intended objective, or more simply the assessment of how well a programme is performing.