HEALTH AND ILLNESS BEHAVIOUR
Health
and illness behavior has become a major area of interest, as well as a
significant challenge, when comes to nation building. This comes about because,
most factors that may affect health and illness which eventually lead to
help-seeking relates to non-disease factors. In this paper, the implications of
health and illness behavior are briefly discussed.
According to Albrecht (2011) Health
is a metaphor for well-being. To be healthy means to be of sound mind and body;
to be integrated or whole. He further stated that health consist of balance and
of being centered World health organization (WHO, 2003) defined health as a
state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity. According to Chew (2011) Health is defined as
the ability to adapt and self manage in the face of social, physical, and
emotional challenges. The Lancet (2009) health as the ability to adapt to one’s
environment. This includes adaptation to animate and inanimate components of
the environment, as well as the physical, mental, and social dimensions of
human life. Generally, health refers to
a holistic notion of individuals well-being (Albercht, 2011).
Illness Illness is a feeling of not being
normal and healthy, illness may, in fact, be due to a disease. However, it may also be due to a feeling of
psychological or spiritual imbalance (O'Neil, 2006). The Association of
Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC, 2014)
to refer to the subjective sense of feeling unwell; illness does not
define a specific pathology, but refers to a person’s subjective experience of
it, such as discomfort, tiredness, or general malaise. Illness is the
subjective experience consisting ". . . of an array of discomforts and
psychosocial dislocations resulting from interaction of a person with the
environment. The environmental stimulus may be a disease, but frequently it is
not (Barondess, 1979)
Health Behavior.
Health
behavior any action taken by a person to maintain, attain, or regain good
health and to prevent illness, it reflects a person's health beliefs. Some
common health behaviors are exercising regularly, eating a balanced diet, and
obtaining necessary inoculations. (Mosby, 2009). Health behavior is any
activity by a person believing himself to be healthy, for the purpose of
preventing disease or detecting it in an asymptomatic stage (Larsen,
2014).
Illness Behavior.
Illness
behavior is any activity undertaken by a person who feels ill to the state of
his health and to discover a suitable remedy (Larsen, 2014). According to Mosby
(2009) illness behavior is the manner in which individuals monitor the
structure and functions of their own bodies, interpret symptoms, take remedial
action, and make use of health care facilities.
IMPLICATIONS OF HEALTH AND ILLNESS
BEHAVIOUR TO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Social Implication of Health and Illness
Behavior.
The
Social implication of health and illness behavior, examines the interaction
between society and health. It demonstrates how social life has an impact on
morbidity and mortality rate, and vice versa (Timmermans, Stefan & Steven
Haas, 2008). The social implication of
health and illness behavior discusses health and illness in relation to social
institutions such as family, employment, and school. The social implication of
health and illness behavior covers sociological pathology (causes of disease
and illness), reasons for seeking particular types of medical aid, and patient
compliance or noncompliance with medical regimes (Conrad, 2008). Health, or
lack of health, was once merely attributed to biological or natural conditions.
Sociologists have demonstrated that the spread of diseases is heavily
influenced by the socioeconomic status of individuals, ethnic traditions or
beliefs, and other cultural factors (White, 2002). There are obvious
differences in patterns of health and illness across societies, and within
particular society types. There has also historically been a long-term decline
in mortality within industrialized societies, and on average, life-expectancies
are considerably
higher
in developed, rather than developing or undeveloped, societies (Gordon, 2009).
He also stated that the continuous changes in economy, therapy, technology and
insurance can affect the way individual communities view and respond to the
medical care available. Our life processes socially are determined therefore
low standard of living and persistence of absolute poverty in the developing
world are the key determinants of health. (Healthknowledge, 2014).They further
stated that Material conditions in particular (which includes but is not solely
defined by income) are key social determinants of health. When examining the
relation of income to health, it is not only the income of individuals that has
to be taken into account, but also the wealth of the community. If a country is
poor, a small increase in per capita income can make a big difference to health
Economic Implications of Health and
Illness Behavior.
Economic
implications of health and illness behavior
can be that of employment capacity, higher incomes, growing wealth and a
robust tax base that would continue to reinvest in a range of social programs
in nation or their lack / absence. Although the effects of individuals' health
status on their productivity and earnings are readily observable and widely
acknowledged, the implications of health and illness behavior for economic
performance (at the macro level) and for the well-being of individuals,
families, and firms are more difficult to discern and have been, until
recently, rather neglected (Marcella Alsan, David Bloom, David Canning, and
Dean Jamison, 2006). Simply stated: wealth is needed to achieve health, this
therefore determines the health and illness behavior as the availability of
economic power determines the behavior exhibited by individuals, community and
nation at large. Health is an important factor in strengthening economies and
reducing poverty, therefore the economy of any nation is affected and largely
dependent on the health and illness behavior of its people and government. To
explain the apparent health-wealth relationship, traditional economic thinking
(for example, World Bank 1993a) has asserted that income growth is a key factor
underpinning improved health and health
behavior. Higher incomes lead to greater command over many of the goods and
services that promote health, such as better nutrition, safe water, and access
to quality health services thereby improving positive health behavior. Higher
incomes also promote technical progress and dissemination of new health
technologies, which have been the major force behind health improvements
(Easterlin 1999). Consistent with this perspective, policies prescribed by
international financial institutions for developing countries have focused on
growth in gross domestic product (GDP) to the neglect and even the detriment of
national health (Navarro 2004: 1322). The behavioral channel highlights the
fact that improvements in health and longevity likely affect life-cycle behavior
as individuals look forward to longer, healthier lives (Bloom, canning,
Mansfield, and Moore, forthcoming 2007). Increases in longevity tend to
increase health ,foreign investors and executives tend to shun areas where
disease is rampant and where access to health care is limited. Another
mechanism by which health and health behavior affects income is through its
relationship to education. Bloom, Canning, and Graham (2003) developed a model
and empirically investigated the effect of increasing longevity on the national
savings rate. They reported that a 10-year rise in life expectancy is
associated with about a 4-percentage point rise in the savings rate. Rising
longevity in developing countries could therefore magnify the current
generation’s incentive to save – a development that may have sizable effects on
domestic investment. Although this saving and investment boom may only last for
one generation and is offset by the needs of the elderly once the population
ages, it can substantially boost economic growth rates while it lasts.
There
is longstanding literature demonstrating that education increases productivity
and wages. Healthier households generally have more income for many of the
reasons discussed above. Their enhanced productivity allows them to earn higher
wages, they have fewer health-related expenses, and they are able to attain
desired family size at lower fertility rates. Healthy families can therefore
afford to spend more on their children's education. Given the importance of
education to income, it is significant that health can serve as a complementary
input to education. In this regard, Finlay (2006) makes a significant finding:
that the effect of health on economic growth is stronger in countries where
education is weak, because a population that relies more on unskilled labor is
more dependent on good health. Healthier children have enhanced cognitive
function and higher school attendance, allowing them to become better-educated,
higher-earning adults. Bleakley (2003) finds that de-worming of children in the
American South had an effect on their educational achievements while in school.
Health
also affects foreign direct investment (FDI). A high burden of disease
enervates the labor force. However, a healthy, productive workforce will tend
to attract FDI inflows. Research has demonstrated that life expectancy exerts
an independent influence on FDI: every additional year of life expectancy
contributes to about a 9 per cent increase in gross FDI inflows in low- and
middle- income countries (Alsan, Bloom, and Canning 2004: 11).
Political implications of Health and Illness
Behavior.
Very few scientiļ¬c studies have
analyzed the consequences of the political agenda of governing parties for the
health of populations. However it is time that the implicit, and sometimes
explicit but unstated politics within and surrounding health were more widely
acknowledged. Health, like almost all other aspects of human life, is political
in numerous ways (Bambra, Fox and Scott-Samuel). Health they therefore said is
political in the following ways; Health is political because, like any other
resource or commodity under a neo-liberal economic system, some social groups
have more of it than others. Secondly, health is political because its social
determinants are amenable to political interventions and are thereby dependent
on political action (or more usually, inaction). Thirdly, health is political
because the right to ‘a standard of living adequate for health and well-being’
is, or should be, an aspect of citizenship and a human right (United Nations,
1948).Ultimately, health is political because power is exercised over it as
part of a wider economic, social and political system. Changing this system
requires political awareness and political struggle.
Evidence that the most powerful
determinants of health and health and illness behavior in modern populations
are social, economic and cultural comes from a wide range of sources and is
also, to some extent, acknowledged by governments and international agencies.
Yet inequalities in health continue, within countries (on the basis of
socio-economic class, gender or ethnicity) and between them (in terms of wealth
and resources). How these inequalities in health are approached by society is
highly political. Underpinning these different approaches to health
inequalities are not only divergent views of what is scientifically or
economically possible, but also differing political and ideological opinions
about what is desirable (). Many of the
issues that dominate political life are key determinants of our health and
illness behavior. Similarly, many of the major determinants of health and
illness behavior lie outside the health sector and therefore require non-health
sector policies to tackle them. Recent acknowledgements of the importance of
the social determinants of health are welcome but fail to seriously address the
underlying political determinants of health and health behavior. Health policy,
as currently popularly conceptualized, is usually synonymous with policy
content. Certainly, it is relatively unusual to find discussions of health
policy that are not focused on the pros and cons of particular courses of
action in relation to particular political parties. In reality, however, health
policy is part of a broader public policy agenda, whose practical aspects are
inextricably linked with power and politics. Given this, the reduction of
‘health policy’ to ‘the content of health policies’ diverts attention from, and
renders invisible the political nature of the policy process. Policy is
formulated within certain preset political parameters, which define what is,
and what is not, possible or acceptable and
this greatly affects the health and illness behavior of the nation.
Health implications of Health and
Illness Behavior.
Health and illness behavior is and can be
rightly said to be the basic foundation of maintaining good health. This is
because Acceptance of illness may affect the likelihood of positive
health-related behavior, through modification of motivation to undertake
particular actions (Janowski,, mail, Kusz, Mroczek, Jedynak, 2013). For
instance, patients with high acceptance of illness may feel motivated to
undertake or continue behavior which helps them maintain the lowest possible
burden of the disease. However, high acceptance of the disease may be related
to satisfaction with the status quo and no need for further effort may be
perceived as required to improve one's situation.
Another dimension to this is that of
personal experience and information sharing. Online resources are now
established as a primary route to health information and support. In the past,
authoritative health information was based on scientific information, often
presented as evidence-based “facts and figures,” rather than on patients’
experiences. When health problems are commonly experienced (such as winter
colds and flu or headaches), people have their own embodied experience to draw
on when deciding whether and how to act (self-management, decisions to consult,
and so on) (Ziebland & Wyke, 2012). However, people wondering whether a
symptom is worth concern or attention, facing a new diagnosis or health-related
decision, or living with a long-term condition and encountering new problems,
often feel that they need to know how others comprehend what they are going
through (Gabriel 2004). A study of parents of children with a genetic condition
(Schaffer, Kuczynski, & Skinner 2008) found that the most trusted and
valued source of information was not doctors but the other parents in the
online communities, whose own extensive Internet searches were combined with a
personal stake. As cancer patient Dave de Bronkert (Aka e-Patient Dave) put it,
“Patients know what patients need to know ” and are, therefore, the most under used resource in health- care
(see http://www.ted.com/conversations/4547/why_is_the_patient_
the_most_u.html). The 2010 Pew Internet national survey of 3,000 respondents in
the United States reported the extent of peer-to-peer help among people living
with chronic conditions as its “most striking” finding: One in four Internet
users living with a chronic condition, such as high blood pressure, diabetes,
heart or lung problems, or cancer, reported going online to find others with
similar health concerns (Fox 2011). Hearing or reading about other patients’
experiences has the potential to affect decision making, one’s sense of
isolation or support, and adjustment to the illness or health condition. This
therefore implies that the health experiences of others greatly affect the
health and illness behavior of any nation. This invariably affects the health
status of the nation.
SUMMARY
In
summary, investments in health as illness behavior can be considered integral
to social, political, economic, and health status development of nations.
Improving the health and illness behavior of nations is a powerful instrument
to this end. Conclusively, health is and has proven to be a worthwhile
investment. Improved health and illness behavior is a fundamental ingredient in
nation building; politically, economically, socially or health wise. Therefore
it is imperative to state that health and illness behavior is an excellent tool
in prevention of disease, as well as the improvement of the political and
economic structure of any nation.
RECOMMENDATION
This
paper examined how health and illness behavior can influence nation building
socially, economically, politically and health wise. It is therefore
recommended that socially, health awareness be intensified as this affects the perception
of health and illness behavior in the community. Economically, it is clear that
where disease is most rampant, among poor populations within and across
countries, the resources necessary to improve health are most scarce. Wealthy
countries could contribute more financial resources toward reducing the burden
of disease in the developing world low and middle-income countries could also
do much more to improve the transparency, accountability, and equity of
national health systems. Politically, I recommend that health promoting
policies should be made and should be considered essential to nation building.
These policies should be promoting in both curative and preventive health as
this would ensure easier and better access to health care. Health wise, I
recommend that health promotion and education be employed as an integral and
essential part of patient treatment. Information concerning patient illness
should not be kept from patients to avoid misinterpretation of disease process,
as previous patients can influence current patients, and society in how they
respond to issues pertaining health and illness.
References
Alsan,
M., Bloom, D., Canning, D., & Jamison, D., (2006). The Consequences of Population Health for Economic Performance. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/
Alsan,
M., D.E. Bloom, and D. Canning (2004). “The Effect of Population Health on
Foreign
Direct Investment,” NBER Working Paper
10596. National Bureau of Economic Research,
Cambridge, MA.
Barondess
J. Disease and illness - A crucial distinction. American Journal of Medicine 1979;66:375-76.
Bleakley,
H. (2003). “Disease and Development, Evidence from the American South.” Journal