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Assessing Health

Assessing Health CHAPTER 2 M. POWELL LAWTON AND RENEE H LAWRENCE PoUSHER REsEARCH INSTmITE PHll.AOELPtllA GERIATRIC CENTER The conceptual meaning of (he state of health has been in the process of develop~ mefll over most of this ceotury. As long as the concepts defining health change. measuresofheallh will also change. In terms of breadth of definition. health ranges from the absence of diagnosable conditions on the narrowest end 10 Ihe World Health Organization's very broad definition: "A state of complete physical, men­ tal. and social well-being" (WHO, 1948). The present chapter chooses a moderate breadth, limiting the conceptual range of health to functions directly involving human biology and subjective and exter­ nally observable manifestations of physical pathology. Thus "positive health" in the WHO sense is excluded, as denoted in sectors ofHfe outside the physical health realm, such as psychological health, social behavior, or goal achievement. These sectors areexduded to emphasize their qualitative differences from, despite their partial dependence on, heallh. Excluded also are functional health, gait and bal­ ance, and pain domains that would qualify for inclusion, but which are discussed in depth in chapter 3 by Kovar and Lawton, chapter 4 by Duncan and Studenski, and chapter 13 by Pannelee. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Gerontology & Geriatrics Springer Publishing

Assessing Health

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References (88)

Publisher
Springer Publishing
ISSN
0198-8794
eISSN
1944-4036
DOI
10.1891/0198-8794.14.1.23
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

CHAPTER 2 M. POWELL LAWTON AND RENEE H LAWRENCE PoUSHER REsEARCH INSTmITE PHll.AOELPtllA GERIATRIC CENTER The conceptual meaning of (he state of health has been in the process of develop~ mefll over most of this ceotury. As long as the concepts defining health change. measuresofheallh will also change. In terms of breadth of definition. health ranges from the absence of diagnosable conditions on the narrowest end 10 Ihe World Health Organization's very broad definition: "A state of complete physical, men­ tal. and social well-being" (WHO, 1948). The present chapter chooses a moderate breadth, limiting the conceptual range of health to functions directly involving human biology and subjective and exter­ nally observable manifestations of physical pathology. Thus "positive health" in the WHO sense is excluded, as denoted in sectors ofHfe outside the physical health realm, such as psychological health, social behavior, or goal achievement. These sectors areexduded to emphasize their qualitative differences from, despite their partial dependence on, heallh. Excluded also are functional health, gait and bal­ ance, and pain domains that would qualify for inclusion, but which are discussed in depth in chapter 3 by Kovar and Lawton, chapter 4 by Duncan and Studenski, and chapter 13 by Pannelee.

Journal

Annual Review of Gerontology & Geriatrics – Springer Publishing

Published: Jan 1, 1994

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