This essay will explore the definitions of health according to Blaxter and Helman and attempt to compare the two studies with each other and a range of other sources. For example, this essay will consider the World Health Organisation’s definition of health (Habersack & Luschin, 2013) and examine its value in defining health. Is it a comprehensive definition that covers all areas of health? And how does it compare to Blaxter or Helman’s interpretations of health?
Blaxter (2001) conducted a survey of 9000 individuals and used a random 10% sample of 900 respondents to try to determine what people believe health is.
In Blaxter’s chapter each headed paragraph represents a different definition of health as defined by the participants’ varying responses. …show more content…
For their own health, “not-ill” was expressed in terms of symptoms individuals have suffered, however the symptoms experienced tended to vary with age. This suggests that the way a person thinks about health is dynamic and therefore can change over a person’s life course. Blaxter’s research shows that older respondents with poor health or chronic illnesses were less inclined to define health in terms of illness. This is also true to a lesser extent across all ages. (Blaxter, 2001). This section leads into “Health as absence of disease/ health despite disease” which is the concept of feeling healthy even though an individual has a disease or health condition such as diabetes or …show more content…
Where Blaxter’s study focuses on good health, Helman’s study focuses more on poor health. He found that folk beliefs have in fact survived in a time where scientific medicine is paramount. Helman also found that people’s folk or lay beliefs can be reinforced after contact with a General Practitioner (GP). Precise medical diagnoses or terminology is not often used in a GP surgery as doctors generally use “lay terms” to describe what is wrong especially for, as Helman puts it, “uneducated patients”. (Helman,
Blaxter (2001) conducted a survey of 9000 individuals and used a random 10% sample of 900 respondents to try to determine what people believe health is.
In Blaxter’s chapter each headed paragraph represents a different definition of health as defined by the participants’ varying responses. …show more content…
For their own health, “not-ill” was expressed in terms of symptoms individuals have suffered, however the symptoms experienced tended to vary with age. This suggests that the way a person thinks about health is dynamic and therefore can change over a person’s life course. Blaxter’s research shows that older respondents with poor health or chronic illnesses were less inclined to define health in terms of illness. This is also true to a lesser extent across all ages. (Blaxter, 2001). This section leads into “Health as absence of disease/ health despite disease” which is the concept of feeling healthy even though an individual has a disease or health condition such as diabetes or …show more content…
Where Blaxter’s study focuses on good health, Helman’s study focuses more on poor health. He found that folk beliefs have in fact survived in a time where scientific medicine is paramount. Helman also found that people’s folk or lay beliefs can be reinforced after contact with a General Practitioner (GP). Precise medical diagnoses or terminology is not often used in a GP surgery as doctors generally use “lay terms” to describe what is wrong especially for, as Helman puts it, “uneducated patients”. (Helman,