Dimensions of Health and Health Care PDF

# Dimensions of Health and Health Care ## Dimensions of Health - The dimension consists of six categories of factors that can be used to organize health assessment - **Biophysical dimension:** Includes factors related to human biology such as age and development, genetic inheritance, and phys...

# Dimensions of Health and Health Care ## Dimensions of Health - The dimension consists of six categories of factors that can be used to organize health assessment - **Biophysical dimension:** Includes factors related to human biology such as age and development, genetic inheritance, and physiological function. - **Psychological dimension:** Includes internal and external psychological environments. Factors such as depression and low self-esteem contribute to a variety of health problems including suicide, substance abuse, family violence and obesity. External psychological factors can also influence the development of health problems. - **Physical environment dimension:** Consists of weather, geographic location, soil composition, temperature and humidity, as well as hazards posed by poor housing and unsafe working conditions. Additional elements of the physical environment that affect health include; light and heat, exposure to pathogens, allergens, radiation, and noise. - **Socio-cultural dimension:** Consists of factors within the social environment that influence health both positively and negatively. Elements of the social structure such as employment, economics, politics, ethics, and occupation. - **Behavioral dimension:** Consists of personal behaviors that either promote or impair health. Health-related behaviors include dietary patters, recreation and exercise, substance use and abuse, sexual activity, and the use of protective measures. - **Health system dimension:** How health care services are organized and their availability, accessibility, affordability, appropriateness, adequacy, acceptability, and use influences the health of individual clients and population groups. ## Dimensions of Health Care - Focuses on prevention and aims at eradicating, eliminating, or minimizing the impact of disease and disability. - **Primordial prevention:** Consists of actions and measures that inhibit the emergence of risk factors in the form of environmental, economic, social, and behavioral conditions and cultural patterns of living. - It is the prevention of the emergence or development of risk factors in countries or population groups in which they have not yet appeared. - The main intervention in primordial prevention is through individual and mass education. - **Primary prevention:** Accomplished by measures of "Health promotion" and "Specific protection" - **Health Promotion:** - Health education - Environmental modifications - Nutritional interventions - Life style and behavioral changes - **Specific protection:** - Immunization and seroprophylaxis - Chemoprophylaxis - Use of specific nutrients or supplementations - 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 incipient stage and prevents complications. - The specific interventions are early diagnosis (e.g. screening tests, and case finding programs....) and adequate treatment. - **Tertiary prevention:** All the measures available to reduce or limit impairments and to promote the patients’ adjustment to irremediable. ## Dimensions of Nursing - **Cognitive dimension:** The knowledge a nurse possesses and uses to identify client health needs and to plan and implement care to meet those needs. - **Interpersonal dimension:** Includes effective elements and interaction skills. Affective elements consist of attitudes and values of the nurse that influence his or her ability to practice affectivity with a variety of different people. - **Ethical dimension:** The nurse acts in accordance with moral and ethical principles. Willingness to advocate for clients is another element of the ethical dimension. - **Skills dimension:** - **Manipulative skills:** Include the ability to perform activities such as giving immunizations, providing tuberculin skin tests, and conducting hearing examinations. - **Intellectual skills:** Include the capacity for critical thinking as well as the ability to examine data and draw influences - **Process dimension:** Nurses employ knowledge, attitudes, and skills in the application of several specific processes when providing care to individuals, families, and population groups. (The nursing process) Other processes used by nurses in their practice are the epidemiologic process, the health education process, the home visit process, and the case management process. CHNs also use change, leadership, group, and political processes in their care of clients. - **Reflective dimension:** The nurses reflect on their care through theory development, research, and evaluation.