HEALTH AS A MULTIFACTORIAL 1.

Biological Factors

PHENOMENON - Factor that influence both health and illness.

It includes the following:
WHAT IS HEALTH? ✓ Genetic Inheritance
o Can be described as the following which ▪ Diabetes mellitus, heart diseases,
allergies, asthma, duodenal ulcer
cannot be measured objectively:
✓ Age
✓ Subjective state
▪ Children are more prone to
✓ Value judgement
becoming sick: mumps, chicken
✓ Goal pox, gastroenteritis, pneumonia,
✓ Process/abstraction fever and colds
✓ Spectrum
▪ Middle age and older people:
✓ Relative concept
diabetes mellitus, hypertension,
✓ Cycle
and heart diseases
o Physiologic and psychological components
✓ Sex
of health are often dichotomized. Other sub- ▪ Females: thyroid disease,
concepts that may be included are diabetes mellitus, obesity, and
environmental and social influences. gallbladder diseases
o May refer to freedom from pain or disease, ▪ Males: tuberculosis, respiratory
optimum capability, ability to adapt, diseases, parasitic infections,
purposeful direction and meaning in life in a hemorrhoids, and stomach
sense of well-being. ulcers

o In the interaction worldview, health indicates ✓ Developmental level

the absence of disease and the presence of ▪ Toddlers: injury falls
normal functioning in roles or tasks. ▪ Adolescent: vehicular accidents,
drug addiction and other
o It is defined as a condition or a state of
substance abuse
integrity of one’s functional capacity and
perceived well-being. As a result, a person is ▪ Older grps: financial problems
able to function adequately which can be on health care and other source
of incomes
observed objectively and he or she can adapt
adequately to the environment and feel well ✓ Nutrition
as assessed subjectively. ▪ Obesity: increases risk for
hypertension, diabetes mellitus,
o According to Leddy and Pepper on 1993,
there are several factors within and outside a ▪ Malnutrition
person that can influence health. ✓ Cognitive structure
▪ Due to genetic inheritance.
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE HEALTH: ▪ It influences the person’s
- Factors that influence health may or may not education, learning styles, and
decision making on health.
be under a person’s conscious control and as
they interact with each other, they may either ▪ Level of formal education
influences the types of
be health-promoting or deleterious.
occupation with its benefits and
hazards.
 ✓ Race
▪ White Americans are more
prone to skin cancer than Blacks.
2. Behavioral Factors
- Stem from human behavior and might be
due to one’s personality, the situation, or are
reaction to the environment. These include:
✓ Behaviors
▪ Learned from parents, members
of the extended family, church,
school, mass media, and others
▪ in the environment.
▪ Influenced by culture as it is lived
day by day.
✓ Beliefs and Practices
▪ Practices are customary actions
usually done to maintain or
promote health such as the use
of anting anting.
▪ Beliefs are state or habit of
mind wherein a group of people
place a trust into something or a
person.
✓ Ethnic Customs
✓ Lifestyle
▪ Includes pattern of eating,
drinking, sleeping, exercise,
recreation, travel etc.
▪ People living in rural areas adopt
a simple lifestyle which are
conducive to health. On the
other hand, city dwellers adopt
the opposite.
3. Socio-Economic Status
- This includes economic status, standard of
living, occupational roles, and membership in
groups.
- Poverty is an identified problem which
begins when a child is born to a poor family.
- These families often have limited or no
resources to create opportunities to advance
themselves, which leaves them stuck in the
poverty trap.
 ✓ Poverty Has Brought Changes in
Occupational Roles
▪ Women professionals are
working as salesladies, clerks,
receptionists, and similar odd
jobs.

▪ Women are factory workers who

receive low pay and endure poor
working conditions.

▪ If all else fails, women are forced

to do what men do.

- Social Groups (e.g. Family, Church, Social,

and Media) also play a role.
✓ Parents play a vital role as teachers
and models of health behaviors.
▪ Quality of Society = Quality of
Family Life & Health
4. Political Factors
- Includes one’s leadership, manages and
involves other people in decision making.
- These are the political structures and
leadership, people’s empowerment and will,
policies, and laws.
- Empowerment is the ability of a person to
do something, creating the circumstances
where people can use their faculties and
abilities at the maximum level in the pursuit
of common goals.
- Political will is the determination to pursue
something, which is the interest of the
majority.
5. Environmental Factors
- The environment has many influences on
health and illness. Housing, sanitation,
climate and pollution of air, food and water
are aspects of environmental dimension.
- Environmental factors are the sum total of
all the conditions and elements that makes
up the surroundings and influence the
development of an individual.
- Environmental hazards increase the rick of
cancer, heart disease, asthma, and many
other illnesses.
- These hazards can be physical such as
pollution, toxic chemicals, and food
contaminants. It can also be social such as
dangerous work, poor housing conditions,
and poverty.

- A truly dynamic leader is a visionary.

- The people’s will is vital.

- The labor laws protect both men and women.

- Example: Philippine Constitution, which

protects the right of each individual and
families.
 6. Spiritual Factors
- Spiritual and religious beliefs are important
components of the way the person behaves
in health and illness.

SUMMARY:
o Health and illness are influenced by
multiple factors which are interdependent
and interrelated. If these is a disturbance in
one factor, all others are affected thus ill
health occurs.