Human Experience Across the Health-Illness Continuum

Health-Illness Continuum
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Health-Illness Continuum
The health-illness continuum proposes that an individual's health status continuously changes. For instance, an individual may be in good health, and after some time, the condition changes. The health-illness has a scale which ranges high level of wellness and death and a neutral point which is normal health. An individual's adoption of the changes on the scale influences the health status of the individual. An individual who adopts the current status is more likely to be in a wellness situation than one who does not embrace it. The health-illness continuum proposes that a person's wellbeing is determined by illness and the mental and emotional condition of a person: illness signs and symptoms cannot fully account for a person's wellbeing. The neutral point on the scale is normal health, and from that point, a person can move either towards wellness or death. A movement towards wellness represents an increase in an individual's wellbeing, whereas a trend towards the end is referred to as premature death and represents a deterioration in wellbeing.
The transition towards the highest level of wellness requires one to be optimistic and positive even with existing illness. However, a transition towards premature death can be achieved if one is pessimistic and negative about the current situation, even when an existing illness does not warrant death (Brookside, 2015). With treatment, the highest level a person can achieve without lifestyle change is neutral, but a person can transition to wellness when treatment is accompanied by lifestyle change.
The health-illness continuum is critical in improving the quality of health services and reducing the cost of treatment borne by society. It enables health care providers to view a patient's health from a broader perspective. This is by understanding the patient's background through social and economic life and family life. Therefore, a health care provider can offer more personalized care by taking into consideration the identified background. Continuum reduces the vulnerability of patients with chronic illnesses by aiding their transition along the continuum scale. Patients with chronic diseases are likely to suffer other complications and adverse effects associated with their condition. Continuum helps the health care provider manage such difficulties and, therefore, the wellness of the patient. Episodic care is not concerned with the patient's wellbeing, which leads to further deterioration of the patient's health rather than improvement. This lays a heavy burden on the financiers of healthcare. Continuum overcomes this limitation of episodic care by complementing it with primary care, wh...