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