Human Experience across the Health-Illness Continuum Essay

Human Experience across the Health-Illness Continuum Essay

Human Experience across the Health-Illness Continuum Essay

The health-illness continuum conceptualizes that an individual’s health status will always change or vary over time with the person adapting to the changes in their lives to maintain wellbeing and good health. The health-illness continuum is a graphical illustration that shows how an individual’s health status changes over time based on a host of issues. The health-illness continuum highlights primary passage stages that include self-awareness, education, growth as points of wellness while disability, symptoms, and signs are an indication of illness among individuals (Reinhardt et al., 2020). The purpose of this paper is to explore the health-illness continuum and its significance to patient care and present the perspective of my current state of health based on the wellness spectrum.

Health-Illness Continuum and its Importance on Health and Human Experience in Patient Care

The concept of wellness changes from one individual to another as some believe that wellness is the absence of illness while others are actively involved in healthy lifestyles to maintain wellness. The rest of the individuals are either satisfied or not with their present condition. The health-wellness continuum is a graphical representation that captures all these aspects to demonstrate the different levels of health among individuals at different times (Gazaway et al., 2019). The graphic representation has two sides; the right and the left where the right shows degrees of wellness and the left side levels of illness. The continuum postulates that wellbeing is a dynamic and not static situation. The dynamic situation must move individuals to greater health and welfare as one’s outlook contributes to their state of wellness. For instance, a positive outlook for any person living with any disability or disease would face the side right of the continuum in contrast to a fit individual who is not happy in life. The individual may be constantly complaining, is anxious, and perhaps depressed (Reinhardt et al., 2020). Such an outlook is negative and obstructs the growth of mental and emotional wellness whereas the positive perspective has positive effects on mental and wellness to growth, knowledge, and self-awareness.

The health-illness continuum is important or has implications in the treatment paradigm. A high level of wellness and good health are good and preferred. Normal health is not acceptable and illness and death are significant concerns in healthcare. The level for urgent treatment rises as individual patient shifts from normal health to illness and even death (Haldane et al., 2020). The health-illness continuum is a critical perspective in patient treatment as it contributes to the mental and emotional development of an individual. through this perspective, patients have the motivation to get better health and prevent any physical and emotional diseases through evaluating the scale where one lies in the continuum and measures their development in the attainment of better health outcomes.

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Understanding the Continuum to Promote Value and Dignity of Individuals

Health care providers like nurses work with patients from diverse backgrounds and have different levels of wellness. Understanding the health-illness continuum is essential as it offers them an opportunity to know patients at various stages of illness and invariable health patterns. Based on their knowledge that integrates physiological and biophysical aspects, healthcare providers can use a caring, dignified and holistic approach across the continuum to help society, communities, families, households, and individuals promote, maintain, and restore optimal health and wellness (Swan et al., 2019). The knowledge on the continuum enables providers to accept unique roles and a broad array of functions in care delivery that include interdisciplinary collaboration, effective communication, advocacy for patients, and leadership roles.

Understanding the continuum allows the providers to promote a safe culture and environment in their practice settings through the use of professional principles like change theory application, principles of equality and equity, value judgment, and effective care processes (Haldane et al., 2020). The continuum also enables them to promote the value and dignity of individuals and groups by perceiving each as multidimensional and unique based on their spiritual, cultural, and biopsychosocial attributes. Through this knowledge, the providers encourage patients to master development tasks that allow them to strive toward self-actualization and restoration as well as the development of novel pathways to flourish. The health-illness continuum is essential for individuals to attain optimal wellness and health while providers promote health and wellness across the care continuum.

Reflection on the Overall State of Health

In reflection on my health, especially wellness and illness, I am passionate about pursuing good health. I continually seek to improve my health and wellness with an emphasis on avoiding different health conditions. As a healthcare provider, I must be a role model while educating patients, individuals, and communities on the need to attain wellness and good health. I assess myself to ascertain if I am in good health based on the health-illness continuum and apply my professional knowledge on diseases to identify factors and behaviors that can help me attain higher levels of health across the continuum (Swan et al., 2019). The behaviors and factors that I have developed include a positive attitude toward health, adoption of healthy eating habits like low levels of carbohydrates in meals, and engaging in regular physical exercises. I am also open to exploring evidence-based practice options and resources to improve my health. These include public health information forums and education materials on common diseases as they offer information on addressing health concerns. I also leverage the Internet where I access scholarly research work to improve health.

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Resources and Options

Different resources are available to help me move towards wellness on the health-illness spectrum. These include medical facilities and personnel who can identify ill-health and offer advice on strategies for health improvement, public information systems like health websites managed by public organizations, and the Internet that is a useful search tool for information gathering on health concerns (Haldane et al., 2020). The fourth resource is social media which provides a forum for information exchange on strategies to improve health and wellness. The fifth resource is the gym and public space where one can exercise to keep fit and improve their physical health. The sixth resource is the social support system that includes family and friends who assist in the attainment of good health by providing necessary advice. These resources will help me toward wellness by ensuring that I do not get chronic diseases like diabetes as exercising will ensure that I maintain optimal body weight. Exercising and getting information will help me attain self-actualization as I will feel good knowing that I have the right information.

Conclusion

A health-illness continuum is an effective tool for comprehending the transient health status of individuals. A good understanding of the continuum is significant for healthcare providers as it allows them to care for individuals and treat them. It helps the patients to feel connected, valued, safe, and care for while allowing the providers to individualize their care based on their unique experiences and health situations.

References

Gazaway, S., Stewart, M., & Schumacher, A. (2019). Integrating palliative care into the chronic

illness continuum: a conceptual model for minority populations. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 6(6), 1078-1086.DOI: 10.1007/s40615-019-00610-y

Haldane, V., Singh, S. R., Srivastava, A., Chuah, F. L., Koh, G. C., Chia, K. S., … & Legido-

Quigley, H. (2020). Community involvement in the development and implementation of chronic condition programmes across the continuum of care in high-and upper-middle income countries: a systematic review. Health Policy, 124(4), 419-437.

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2019.11.012.

Reinhardt, M., Horváth, Z., Morgan, A., & Kökönyei, G. (2020). Well-being profiles in

adolescence: psychometric properties and latent profile analysis of the mental health continuum model–a methodological study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 18(1), 1-10.DOI: 10.1186/s12955-020-01332-0.

Swan, B. A., Haas, S., & Jessie, A. T. (2019). Care coordination: Roles of registered nurses

across the care continuum. Nursing Economics, 37(6), 317-323.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/nursfp/101

Research the health-illness continuum and its relevance to patient care. In a 750-1,000 word paper, discuss the relevance of the continuum to patient care and present a perspective of your current state of health in relation to the wellness spectrum. Include the following:

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Examine the health-illness continuum and discuss why this perspective is important to consider in relation to health and the human experience when caring for patients.
Explain how understanding the health-illness continuum enables you, as a health care provider, to better promote the value and dignity of individuals or groups and to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing.
Reflect on your overall state of health. Discuss what behaviors support or detract from your health and well-being. Explain where you currently fall on the health-illness continuum.
Discuss the options and resources available to you to help you move toward wellness on the health-illness spectrum. Describe how these would assist in moving you toward wellness (managing a chronic disease, recovering from an illness, self-actualization, etc.).
You are required to cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assesses the following competency:

RN-BSN

5.1. Understand the human experience across the health-illness continuum.

RUBRIC
Benchmark – Human Experience Across the Health-Illness Continuum – Rubric

Health-Illness Importance to Health and Patient Care (C5.1)
20 points

Relation of Human-Illness Continuum to Value, Dignity, and Promotion of Human Flourishing
20 points

Refection on Personal State of Health and the Health Illness Continuum
20 points

Resources Supporting Wellness
20 points

Thesis Development and Purpose
5 points

Argument Logic and Construction
5 points

Mechanics of Writing (includes spelling, punctuation, grammar, language use)
5 points

Paper Format (use of appropriate style for the major and assignment)
2 points

Documentation of Sources
3 points