Beyond Choice: Challenging Individualism in Public Health Narratives

Cultural frameworks for understanding the self are often categorized into two broad orientations: individualism and collectivism. These paradigms influence how people define themselves, relate to others, and interpret their social worlds. Each orientation offers distinct perspectives on autonomy, responsibility, and the role of the individual within a community.Individualistic CulturesIn individualistic cultures like North America and Western Europe, identity is understood as autonomous and...

The person's health status fluctuates continually, varying from being in good health to becoming ill and returning to being healthy. To understand the concept of illness prevention, there are two models. First, the health-illness continuum model is a graphic representation of an individual's wellness. It states that a person is considered healthy in the absence of physical disease and the presence of good emotional health.
The agent-host-environment model states that disease results...

A model is a theoretical way to understand a concept or an idea. Models can overcome barriers to health regardless of diverse economic and cultural backgrounds. In addition, models make the task easier by providing different ways to approach complex issues. There are two major health promotion models: the health belief model and the health promotion model.
The health belief model (HBM) attempts to predict health-related behavior in specific belief patterns. According to the HBM, a person's...

Health is a condition of the body, mind, and spirit where an individual remains free from illness. Similarly, wellness is an active state, including living a lifestyle that promotes physical, mental, and emotional health. Physical health is critical for the overall well-being and can be affected by lifestyle, activity level, diet, and behavior. The highest attainable standard of health is a fundamental and universal human right. Consider Lisa, a fifteen-year-old born with congenital...

Health literacy is an individual's or a community's capacity to comprehend, receive, read, and use relevant healthcare information and services. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2018) defines health literacy as the cognitive and social skills that determine the ability of individuals to gain access to, understand, and use information in ways that promote and maintain good health. As a result, the WHO helps individuals manage long-term health concerns, participate in preventative...

The factors influencing the health-illness continuum can be internal or external and may or may not be under conscious control. They are related to the following eight human dimensions, and each dimension is interrelated to one other.