Risk factors Affecting Health

 Definition
Is any situation, habit, social or environmental
condition, physiological or psychological condition,
developmental or intellectual condition, spiritual or
other variables that increase the vulnerability of an
individual or group to an illness or accident.
 Genetic and physiological factors
 Age
 Environment
 Life style
Illness
 Illness is a state of a persons physical ,emotional,
intellectual, social, developmental or spiritual
functioning is diminished or impaired compared with
previous experience.
 Illness is not synonymous with disease
Types Chronic illness
Acute illness  Persists longerthan 6
 Short duration months
 Severe  Affects function in any
 symptoms appear dimension
abruptly  client fluctuate between
 Intense and often maximal functioning and
subside after a relatively serious health relapses that
short period may be life threatening.
Sick role behaviour/illness
behaviour
 A coping mechanism involves ways individuals
describe, moniter, and interpret their symptoms, take
remedial actions and use the health care system.
 PARSON (1972)aspects of sickrole
 Clients are not held responsible for their condition
 Clients are excused from certain social roles and tasks
 Clients are obliged to try to get well as quickly as
possible
 Clients or their families are obliged to seek competant
help
Such man (1972)
Five stages of illness
 Symptom experience
 Sick role
 Medical care contact
 Dependant client role
 Recovery or rehabilitation
Symptom experience

 Person believes something is wrong

 Either some one signjficant tells or they experience
symptoms like pain, rash, cough fever, bleeding
 3 aspects
 Physical experience of symptoms
 Cognitive aspect – interpretation of symptoms
 Emotional response – fear anxiety
 Consults others validate reality of symptoms
 Try home remedies
Assumption of Sick role

 Seeks confirmation from family and friends

 Often delay contact with health care personals as long
as possible
 Excuse from normal duties and role expectaions
 Emotional responses such as withdrawl, anxiety, fear
and depression are not uncommon
 When symptoms persist they seek medical help
Medical care contact

 Sick people seek the help of professionals either on

thioer own initiative or at the urging of significant
others
 Validation of their illness
 Explanation of their symptoms in an understandable
terms
 Reasssurance that they will be allright or prediction of
what the outcome will be
 The client may accept or deny the diagnosis
Dependant client role
 The client becomes dependent on the health
professional for help
 Degree of dependence varys with persons
Recovery or rehabilitation

 The client is expected to relinquish the dependent role

and resume former roles and responsibilities
 People who have long term illness must adjust their
life style ;may find their recovery more difficult.
Impact of illness on client and
family
 Behavioral & emotional change
 Change in body image
 Impact on self concept
 Impact on family roles
 Impact on family dynamics
Concepts of prevention
 To promote health
 To preserve health
 To restore health when it is impaired
 to minimize suffering and stress
Levels of prevention
 Primordial prevention
 Primary prevention
 Secondary prevention
 Tertiary prevention
 Primordial prevention
 Prevention of the
emergence or development
of risk factors in countries
or population groups in
which they have not yet
appeared
 Eg. efforts taken towards
discouraging children from
adopting harmful life
styles
Primary prevention
 Action taken prior to the
onset of the disease which
removes the possibility of
the disease will ever occur
 Efforts taken to promote
general health and
wellbeing ,quality of life of
people or by specific
protective measures
 Secondary prevention Tertiary prevention
 Action which halts the  When the disease process
progress of the disease at has advanced beyond its
its incipient stage and early stages it is still
prevents complications possible to reduce or limit
 Early diagnosis and the impairments and
adequate treatment disabilities ,
 Arrests the disease before  minimise suffering caused
irreversible pathological by existing disease and
changes occur and reverse  to promote adjustment to
communicability protects irremediable conditions
community from
aquiringthe infection
 Eg. Screening tests, case
finding programme
Any clarifications?
Thank you