DEFINITIONS OF HEALTH

By the time they reach college age, most Americans are familiar with the many ways in which health care is provided.  Here are easily recognizable examples, all of which serve to reinforce our traditional definitions of health.  As you will learn, these definitions are centered in the cure or management of illness and the extension of life.  Note the concerns over morbidity (pertaining to illness and disease) and mortality (pertaining to death) present in the descriptions that follow.

Episodic Health Care

The vast majority of Americans use the service of professional health care providers during periods (episodes) of illness and injury, that is, when we are “unhealthy”.  We consult providers seeking a diagnosis that will explain why we are not feeling well.  Once a problem is identified, we expect to receive effective treatment from the practitioner that will lead to our recovery (the absence of illness) and a return to health.  If we are willing to be compliant with the care strategies prescribed by our practitioner, we should soon be able to define ourselves as “health” once again.

The familiarity of episodic health care is evident in the 823.5 million times that Americans visited physicians during 2000.  Although some of these visits were for preventive health care (see discussion on page 5), the vast majority were in conjunction with illness.  When viewed by racial groups, Whites averaged 3.2 visits, Asians 2.9, Blacks 2.1 and Native Americans 0.8 visits during that year.