Understanding the Human Experience Across the Health-Illness Continuum and its Importance

Human Experience across the Health-Illness Continuum
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Human Experience across the Health-Illness Continuum
Enhancing patient health and wellness requires addressing more than the physical manifestation of illness. As Koutoukidis and Stainton (2020) reveal, health and wellness is more than just the absence of disease; it is also about the physical, social, emotional, and mental well-being of an individual. This paper discusses the relevance of the health-illness continuum inpatient care as well as the resources and options that can be utilized by individuals to move towards wellness across the continuum.
The health-illness continuum represents, graphically, an individual’s state of health (Koutoukidis & Stainton, 2020). On one end of the continuum is wellness, and on the opposite end is an illness, which can result in premature death. A person can be in any position across the continuum. According to Cooper and Gosnell (2018), a person's position on the continuum depends on their social, physical, and mental well-being. However, the goal is to progress from illness (lowest level of well-being and health) to wellness, which is the highest level of well-being and health. Along the continuum, there is a neutral point. Moving to the right form that neutral point indicates progress towards wellness, and moving to the left indicates progress towards illness. Koutoukidis and Stainton (2020) indicate that progress towards wellness is characterized by awareness, education, and growth, while progress towards illness is characterized by signs, symptoms, and disability, which must be treated to help individuals move back to a neutral position. It is important to consider this perspective in relation to health and human experience when caring for patients because by understanding the health position of an individual on the continuum, care providers can prioritize what patients need to progress. The continuum helps not only in curative but also preventative approaches through education and awareness about diseases (Cooper & Gosnell, 2018).
As a healthcare provider, understanding the health-illness continuum helps me promote the value and dignity of patients and human flourishing in two ways. One, it helps provide patient-centered care. As Cooper and Gosnell (2018) indicate, the health of an individual is influenced by factors such as culture, age, economic status, and family relationships, among others. I can provide more patient-centered care by considering how such factors affect the health of my patients. I can focus not only on the physical health needs of patients but also their social, spiritual, economic, and mental needs while still respecting their cultural beliefs and values. According to Santana et al. (2018), patient-centered care enables healthcare providers to respect the beliefs and values of each patient as well as promote patients' dignity in the provision of care. Two, it helps me put into context the individual's position in the continuum. The continuum allows me to assess the patient's level of wellness (Koutoukidis & Stainton, 2020). ...