Toward a New Definition of Health

Zusatztext

It is generally recognized today that the United States has a need to contri bute to the improvement of health throughout the world. The need stems from the interrelationships that exist between the health of Americans and the health status of the rest of the people on "Spaceship Earth." Disease does not respect national boundaries, and the frequency of travel and trade between countries increases each year. It further relates to the opportunities found in international settings to help solve health problems more effec tively and efficiently. This includes the unique human resources that are found throughout the world as well as certain natural ecological conditions that cannot be duplicated in the United States. The United States also has a responsibility to contribute to improved health status. Our tradition of humanitarianism alone supports such a re sponsibility, but our comparative wealth of technical and financial re sources dictates a requirement to participate. Modern political realities de fine relationships between developed and developing countries that will not allow us to isolate ourselves from the compelling health needs of a majority of the world's population.

Autorenportrait

InhaltsangabeI: Dimensions of Health and Illness: Toward an Integrated Model.- 1 Toward a New Definition of Health: An Overview.- The Biomedical Definition: A Brief History.- What Is Health? Illness and Health as Biosocial Concepts.- Health and the Environment: The Hazards of Poverty.- Health and the Environment: The Hazards of Affluence.- Promoting Better Health through Medicine.- References.- 2 Disease and Illness from a Biocultural Standpoint.- Ethnomedicine: The Comparative Study of Approaches toward Medical Problems.- Culture, Behavior, and the Nervous System.- Evolutionary Constraints on Cultural Differences.- Biocultural Implications of Illness.- Disease as a Culturally Ordered Behavioral Form.- Illness, Medical Taxonomies, and the Question of Mortality.- Summary and Implications.- References.- 3 Sickness as Cultural Semantics: Issues for an Anthropological Medicine and Psychiatry.- The Social Construction of Illness.- Culturally Constituted Clinical Realities.- Clinically Relevant Issues Generated by Anthropological Studies.- The Application of Clinical Social Science Strategies in Primary Care.- Policy Implications.- References.- 4 The Dimensions of Medical Rationality: A Problematic for the Psychosocial Study of Medicine.- Medical Rationality.- Standards of Efficacy.- Some Empirically Efficacious Practices.- Modes of Medical Belief.- Symptoms and Syndromes in Externalizing Systems.- The Impact of Western Medicine.- Standards of Efficacy in Western Medicine.- Efficacy and Productivity.- Conclusion.- References.- 5 Psychosocial Factors and Health: New Program Directions.- A Selective Review of Psychosocial Factors, Health, and Health Services, with Particular Reference to WHO Activities.- Psychosocial Influences on the Incidence of Disease.- Psychosocial Influences on the Course and Outcome of Disease.- Behaviorally Determined Disorders.- Psychosocial Factors and Health Services.- Health Workers.- Health Interventions.- Health Action in Other Sectors.- Community Members.- Program Proposals.- General Considerations.- Objectives and Activities.- Summary of Program Proposals.- References.- 6 The Role of Indigenous Medicine in WHO's Definition of Health.- The WHO Definition.- The Western Medical Model.- The Problems of Technology Transfer.- Traditional Medical Systems.- Conclusions: Toward Integrated Medical Care.- References.- II: Psychosocial Factors in Disease: Some Specific Examples.- 7 Occupational Stress and Health.- "Stress" and Health: The Promise and the Problems.- A Paradigm for "Stress Research".- Key Directions in the Study of Occupational Stress and Health.- Empirical Evidence.- Occupational Stress and "Stress Diseases".- Stress and "Nonstress" Diseases.- A Study of Occupational Stress and Health.- Data and Methods.- Results.- Summary and Conclusions.- Research Needs.- The Need for Experimental Application.- References.- 8 Psychosocial Dimensions of Drug Abuse.- The Healing Process: Four Cultures.- The Healing Process: Drug Abuse in the United States.- Person and Context: Psychosocial Definitions.- Drug Abuse: Definition and Response.- Ecosystem and Drug Abuse.- The Basis of Individual Dysfunction.- Overt Therapeutic Contracts: Illness and Treatment.- The Strategic Contract: Regaining Health.- The Ecosystem Contract: Redefining Normalcy.- Conclusions.- References.- 9 Views on the Psychosocial Dimensions of Cancer and Cancer Treatment.- The Dreaded Disease.- Metamorphosis of the Cancer Crusade.- Illness, Even Death, Are Living Things: Patient Self-Awareness.- Life Sketch Number One.- Life Sketch Number Two.- Life Sketch Number Three.- Life Sketch Number Four.- The Price Paid for Survival: Secrets and Separation.- Comments on Coping.- Behavioral Science Research.- Toward a New Definition of Health for the Cancer Patient.- References.- 10 Labeling and Discrimination in Mental Health.- References.- III: Health Needs of Special Groups: Some Specific Examples.- 11 Coping with Health Problems in Aging.- Health Is a Social as Well

Weitere Details