Pdhpe Core Summaries

Better Health For Individuals * Physical health is the wellness of the body and the absence of chronic pain or discomfort. * Social health is our ability to interact with other people in an interdependent and cooperative way. * Mental or emotional health is a state of well-being where we can realise our abilities, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively and make a contribution to the community. * Spiritual health relates to a sense of purpose and meanings in our life, and to feeling connected with others and society. * The relative nature of health refers to how we judge our health compared to other people or other points of time in our lives. * The dynamic nature of health refers to the constant fluctuations that occur in our level of health. * Factors that influence our perceptions of health include, our personal interpretation of the term health, our behaviours & lifestyle, our past level of health, attitudes about health conveyed by our peers, family & the media, belief about our own capacity to achieve good health, the value we play on the importance of being healthy and the environment. * A social construct of health is a concept that people have different view based on their social circumstances and ways of seeing, interpreting, interrelating and interacting with their environment. * Factors that play a role in our social construct of health include socioeconomic status, geographical location, cultural background, gender, age, level of education and community values & expectations. * Health determinants are individual, socioeconomic, socio-cultural and environmental factors that can have a positive of negative influence on the health of individuals or populations. * Individual factors are those factors unique to each person that can determine their level of health. * Health literacy is the ability to understand and interpret health information and use it to promote and maintain good health.