Health has multiple definitions, ranging from a narrow biomedical definition equated with the absence of disease or abnormal physiologic conditions to the more broad World Health Organization definition that includes the presence of an individual’s sense of well-being in several spheres. Working within a definition of health that focuses on individuals’ responses and perceptions of their diseases, as well as their abilities to function both now and in the future, allows improvement efforts to address not only a reduction of disease, disability, and death but also an increase in the quality of people’s lives.
In practice, early approaches to improving health centered on specific diseases or behaviors that could be addressed with medical and public health interventions. This approach continues today in the form of well-baby clinics and community centers that target smoking, obesity, and other unhealthy lifestyle choices. In addition, the field model of the determinants of health encourages consideration of a wider array of targets, including economic circumstances, access to healthcare, and cultural values.
The emergence of the health promotion movement in the 1980s triggered a shift away from defining health primarily in terms of a state to thinking about it as a dynamic process of coping with and adapting to life circumstances. This new definition of health invites a shift in assessments to consider not just symptoms and biological metrics, but the ways that a person is both realizing their aspirations and coping with their environment.