Dimensions of Health Overview

Dimensions of Health

• Biophysical dimension encompasses biological aspects influencing health:
  • Age and development
  • Genetic inheritance
  • Physiological function
• Psychological dimension includes internal and external psychological environments:
  • Internal factors like depression and low self-esteem can contribute to various health issues.
  • External factors also influence health, such as social pressure and expectations.
• Physical environment dimension consists of factors like:
  • Weather and geographic location
  • Soil composition, temperature, and humidity
  • Hazards from poor housing and unsafe working conditions
  • Light, heat, pathogens, allergens, radiation, and noise
• Socio-cultural dimension encompasses:
  • Social structures influencing health, both positively and negatively.
  • Factors include employment, economics, politics, ethics, and occupation.
• Behavioral dimension consists of personal behaviors that either promote or impair health:
  • Dietary patterns, exercise, substance use, sexual activity, and protective measures all fall under this category.
• Health system dimension focuses on how healthcare services are organized and their accessibility, affordability, and adequacy influences individual and population health.

Dimensions of Health Care

• Health care focuses on prevention and aims to eradicate, minimize, or eliminate the impact of disease and disability.
• Primordial prevention inhibits the emergence of risk factors through:
  • Environmental
  • Economic
  • Social
  • Behavioral conditions
  • Cultural patterns of living
  • Primary intervention through education.
• Primary prevention is achieved through "Health promotion" and "Specific protection":
  • Health Promotion:
    • Health education
    • Environmental modifications
    • Nutritional interventions
    • Lifestyle and behavioral changes
  • Specific protection:
    • Immunization and seroprophylaxis
    • Chemoprophylaxis
    • Use of specific nutrients or supplements
    • Protection against occupational hazards
    • Safety of drugs and foods
    • Control of environmental hazards (e.g., air pollution)
• Secondary prevention halts the progress of a disease at its early stage and prevents complications through:
  • Early diagnosis through screening tests and case finding programs.
  • Adequate treatment.
• Tertiary prevention aims to reduce impairments and promote patient adjustment to irreversible conditions.

Dimensions of Nursing

• Cognitive dimension encompasses the knowledge a nurse possesses and uses to:
  • Identify client health needs.
  • Plan and implement care to meet those needs.
• Interpersonal dimension includes effective elements and interaction skills:
  • Affective elements consist of a nurse's attitudes and values influencing their ability to practice effectively with different individuals.
• Ethical dimension emphasizes nurses acting in accordance with moral and ethical principles.
  • Willingness to advocate for clients is an important element of this dimension.
• Skills dimension includes:
  • Manipulative skills: Giving immunizations, providing skin tests, conducting hearing examinations.
  • Intellectual skills: Critical thinking, examining data, drawing inferences.
• Process dimension focuses on the application of specific processes:
  • The nursing process, epidemiologic process, health education process, home visit process, and case management process are all used in nursing practice.
  • Community health nurses also employ change, leadership, group, and political processes in their care.
• Reflective dimension encourages nurses to reflect on their care through:
  • Theory development
  • Research
  • Evaluation