Theories of Models of Health and Well-being

Health is Wealth: Did you know?

“A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.”

–Hippocrates, The Anthropology of Health and Healing

Many people do not realise the significance of good health, and even if they do, they may still disregard it, whether at home or at work. When people talk about health, they usually refer to the condition of the body. However, health does not simply mean being free from pain or the symptoms of disease, it is everything that keeps us alive.

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The purpose of this essay is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures relating to the different models of health. In this paper, it will tackle on two models of health the lifestyle theory model and the biomedical model. Biomedical model focuses on the physical processes, for instance biochemistry, pathology and physiology of a disease. It does not involve the role of social thing or individual subjectivity while lifestyle theory model is composed of three interlocking models: the structural model, the functional model, and the change model. In the next section, it will differentiate and contrast the two models of health.

Lifestyle basically means the usual way a person goes in daily living. Most people, however, describe it in terms of wealth, this doesn’t hit the mark. When all the aspects that truthfully compose a lifestyle are considered, the all-encompassing nature of this term becomes clear. A lifestyle does, of course, involve habits but it also covers such things as family status, wealth, careers and a lot more. No matter what a person’s lifestyle happens to be, there are ways to improve upon bothersome areas. Everyone has their own typical lifestyle that cover up their distinctive actions on a daily basis. Some of the things that go into making one’s lifestyle distinct include: habits it is everything a person does on a normal basis which makes up their unique lifestyle, from diet and the pursuit of a good family fitness to bad habits such as smoking, drinking etc. (Webster Online), careerit is the employment opportunities a person pursues it also help define lifestyle, financial means it isn’t necessarily the most important facet of a lifestyle but it does help define the manner in which an individual might live and Emotional well beingit is also a state of mind. When personal peace and satisfaction are a part of everyday living; wealth won’t necessarily matter in the creation of a healthy and happy lifestyle. In simpler words, the definition of lifestyle covers just about everything a person is and does on a regular basis. From personal wealth to bad habits, they all go into the big picture.

The biomedical model focuses purely on biological factors, and excludes psychological, environmental, and social influences. This is considered to be the popular, modern way for health care professionals to diagnose and treat a condition in most Western countries (Merriam Webster Online). Most health care professionals do not first ask for a psychological or social history of a patient; instead, they tend to analyze and look for biophysical or genetic malfunctions. The focus is on objective laboratory tests rather than the subjective feelings or history of the patient (Dutta, 2008). The biomedical approach to disease has its roots in biology. It is mostly concerned with objectively classifying the natural deviations that a disease presents from a biological norm (Walsh, 2004). The biomedical model has played a major role in the strategies used to deliver health and human services in the world. It argues the pathology in human beings that has a biological or molecular basis. As for a treatment approach, the biomedical model has been very successful at curing many diseases. With this achievement, the professionals in a number of fields have been to a great extent influenced by the biomedical model in the assessment and treatment of both physical and emotional problems. The biomedical model being used today is supported by the combination of clinical findings with laboratory data and pathology findings. This model created a structure to examine, classify and treat disease. From this, basically pathologist, health is defined as absence of disease. Thus the world is divided between healthy and sick, with what the medical condition to recognize, demonstrate, and sort by procedures based on this method.

Both of these models of health are different from most of the aspects. Though both promote health, their understanding and objective are different. Biomedical model of health explanatory frameworks for disease are not straight forward. Medical model and the associated assumption about the illness distinction and lay distinction indicate some of the major characteristics of the medical approach to disease: that it claims legitimacy and process from science; that is primarily focused on the biological; that is a universalistic and individualist framework: and that it is constructed and presented in opposition to other approach toward disease. Lifestyle theory on the other hand is an ambiguous concept which can be altered to account for a of range different situations; also provides doctors to construct explanatory narratives which draw on everyday language to describe daily practices (Hansen, Easthope, 2007). In addition to this, Lifestyle theory is also composed of three interlocking models: the structural model, the functional model and the change model. Structural model is to operationally define a lifestyle, and show how it fits within a larger classification system. Functional model accounts for lifestyle development in a person’s fear and belief system and divides developmental factors. Change model, it is held that a natural self-altering process exist in all living beings which can be capitalized upon to encourage desistance from lifestyle behavior (Walters, 2006).

An example of biomedical model of health would claim that lung cancer is caused by smoking, while lifestyle model of heath may suggest that passive smoking or hereditary disposition to the disease can be causes of it. Pursuing this further, Blaxter (2004) yet suggest that bio – medical model of heath does not promote a healthy lifestyle, as it could be thought if you are smoking, excessively drinking and eating unhealthily but not feeling ill, then it is acceptable to carry on with that. Controversially, lifestyle model of health is looking at it differently, by encouraging people to lead a healthy lifestyle and prevent illnesses and diseases (Blaxter, 2004).

In conclusion, this essay helped to further understand and to think broader the significant facts and figures relating to the different health models. Despite the immense amounts of research studying statistical relationships among lifestyle factors and disease very little known about the way medicine in general or doctors in particular speak about lifestyle or apply theory related to it when explaining health and disease. To pay off the lack of knowledge about medical understandings of lifestyle we draw together what is known about such understandings and report on our experimental research on the topic. In short, exploring the way that lifestyle is visualized and applied within medicine. In it we talk to a number of unanswered questions about medical understanding of lifestyle.

Reference List

Biomedical, Habit, Lifestyle. InMerriam Webster Online,Retrieved March 20, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

Blaxter, M. (2004). Health, Wiley

Dutta, M. (2008). Communicating Health: A Culture-centered Approach, Polity Hansen E., Easthope G. (2007). Lifestyle in Medicine, London: Routledge

Walsh, M. (2004). Introduction to Sociology for Health Carers, Nelson Thornes

Walters, G. (2006), Lifestyle Theory:Past, Present, and Future, Nova Publishers

Womack, M. (2010). The Anthropology of Health and Healing, Almira Press