|
|
|
Glossary
Jump to: A |
C | D | E |
H | L | M |
P | S | T |
V | W |
AAdverse living conditions Adverse conditions encompass any circumstances that inhibit a person’s or a group’s freedom to live, to become safer and healthier, and to develop their full potential. They include any deviation from prerequisite conditions for life and human dignity (e.g., physical extremes, violence, deprivation, disconnection). Phenomena like hunger, war, environmental decay, homelessness, illiteracy, and various forms of injustice are all examples of adverse living conditions. Related Concepts
Affliction A condition of pain, suffering, or distress caused by adversity or poor health. Affliction is an aggregate concept or summary indicator encompassing any and all deviations from a state of the highest possible physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. In that sense, to live with an affliction is antithetical to the ideal of living in full health. Although health encompasses more than the absence of disease; affliction always erodes health. This is true regardless of whether the state of affliction emanates from epidemic (sporadically occurring) or endemic (commonly occurring) conditions, or a combination of forces. The concept of affliction relates closely to the societal purpose of public health work, which is to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy. In practice, this requires that citizens work continuously to create and protect the conditions for maximal well-being for all. Failure to do so may expose people to unnecessary adversity and leave them vulnerable to affliction both by virtue of that undue adversity and through an immense range of specific risks and diseases. Related Concepts
CConscience Derives from the Latin root scire, meaning to know. Conscience places efforts to acquire knowledge through science–as well as the actions that flow from it–within a framework of evaluative judgment. That framework, importantly, is not only self-referential (i.e., applying scientific criteria to judge scientific merit) but also concerned with the role of science in solving public problems and advancing human development. When enacted with conscience, public health work includes “a moral or ethical aspect to one’s conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong” (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000). It is this conscience (sometimes referred to a “moral compass”) that places science in service of common sense and imposes boundaries on the kinds of procedures that may be used legitimately to acquire knowledge or pursue human values. Related Concepts
Consciousness Derives from the Latin root scire, meaning to know. Consciousness situates knowledge in a larger context that includes self-awareness of the endeavor to acquire knowledge itself. Conscious science, therefore, expands the scope of knowledge to include information about “one's environment and one’s own existence, sensations, and thoughts.” Related Concepts
DDesign causality A view of causal relationships in which the particular organization or configuration of variables at work in a problematic situation is understood as the source of observed behavior rather than any one or set of factors unto themselves. The emphasis is on understanding interdependence, closed-loop feedback, accumulations, delays, and non-linearities (Richmond and Peterson, 1997). Related Concepts Disarray Disarray is an organizational phenomenon, implying the need to rearrange existing parts of a system to improve its performance (usually in the short-term). Prolonged disarray may lead to disorientation as frustration builds over an inability to effectively reach long-term goals. Also, repeated attempts to reorganize problems that are in fact rooted in disorientation may generate even deeper disarray. In such circumstances, no amount of rearranging will improve long-term performance and the very act of reorganizing could itself become disorienting. Related Concepts
Disease A defined pathological condition of a body part, organ, or system characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms. As a social construction, diseases routinely come into and pass out of popular consciousness. For example, neither health professionals nor the public recognized suicide as a disease until the National Institute of Mental Health officially pronounced it one in 1967; by contrast, few physicians in the late nineteenth century doubted the existence of “masturbatory insanity”, though it is no longer considered a disease from today’s point of view (Hudson, 1983). Disease prevention A type of public health work enacted to avoid or delay the onset or progression of one or more diseases. At least three sub-types of disease prevention may be recognized: primary prevention seeks to reduce disease incidence; secondary prevention seeks to reduce the development or severity of disease complications; and tertiary prevention seeks to reduce preventable mortality due to disease complications. Related Concepts
Disease prevention programs Planned, organizational efforts designed to avoid the onset, progression, or premature mortality associated with one or more defined diseases. Disorientation A conceptual and moral phenomenon, borne of confusion about one’s overall direction, place, and value in the world. Prolonged disorientation may lead to organizational disarray as misguided decisions result in poorly planned or fragmented structures. Effective responses to disorientation generally require new ways of thinking, framing problems, making decisions, planning, evaluating, organizing resources, and navigating change. Related Concepts
EEndemic 1. A familiar, entrenched phenomenon, like the persistent appearance of a disease in a particular region, that occurs in a population at an expected rate; 2. The relatively constant presence of a phenomenon caused by commonly occurring conditions. Epidemic1. An unusual phenomenon, like the rapid and widespread onset of a disease, that occurs in a population at a rate higher than expected; 2. The sudden outbreak and spread of a phenomenon caused by sporadically occurring conditions. HHealth 1. Well-being, welfare, safety 2. “A state of the highest possible physical, social, and mental well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity...Within the context of health promotion, health has been considered less as an abstract state and more as a means to an end which can be expressed in functional terms as a resource which permits people to lead an individually, socially and economically productive life. Health is a resource for everyday life, not the object of living. It is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources as well as physical capabilities” (World Health Organization, 1998). Related Concepts
Health promotion “The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health” (World Health Organization, 1998). Related Concepts
Health protection A type of public health work enacted to support or safeguard the health and safety of the public. At least two sub-types of health protection may be recognized: targeted protection seeks to move people from an existing position of affliction or vulnerability to one of relative safety and health; and general protection seeks to reduce or remove sources of vulnerability for entire populations. Related Concepts Health protection system A societal enterprise designed to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy. LLiving conditions “Living conditions are the everyday environment of people, where they live, play and work. These living conditions are a product of social and economic circumstances and the physical environment–all of which can impact upon health–and are largely outside of the immediate control of the individual” (World Health Organization, 1998). Related Concepts
MMacroscope “A symbolic instrument made of a number of methods and techniques borrowed from very different disciplines. The macroscope filters details and amplifies that which links things together. It is not used to make things larger or smaller but to observe what is at once too great, too slow, and too complex for our eyes...” (Rosnay, 1979) Related Concepts Moral compass A set of negotiated conditions/goals–or moral values–that provide direction when navigating change. Related Concepts
PPolicy resistance The tendency for interventions to be delayed, diluted, or defeated by the response of the system to the intervention itself (Sterman, 2000). Power “The ability to act on a number of issues in a variety of ways,” and get a reaction (Gecan, 2002:7). Related Concepts
Protect To secure or safeguard against harm, allowing continued existence and vitality, as well as further evolution and reproduction, if appropriate. Related Concepts Public work
Sustained, visible, serious effort by a diverse mix of citizens that assures the conditions in which people can be healthy. Related Concepts
Public work Sustained, visible, serious effort by a diverse mix of ordinary people that creates things of lasting civic or public significance (Center for Democracy and Citizenship, 2001) Related Concepts
Public strength 1. The power of citizens to direct the course of change toward a negotiated set of valued conditions/goals; 2. Vitality of a society’s public sphere, the health of its polis. Related Concepts
SScience Derives from the Latin root scire, meaning to know. A means of acquiring knowledge through explicit procedures such as action, reflection, observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena. Related Concepts Social navigation 1. A form of organized action concerned with directing the course of social change toward a negotiated set of valued conditions/goals; 2. A set of analytic methods devised for understanding goal-directed movement; specifically, for charting progress in the trajectory of social change and for judging proximity to a set of valued conditions/goals. Related Concepts Syndemic Two or more afflictions, interacting synergistically, contributing to excess burden of disease in a population Related Concepts
Syndemic orientation A way of thinking about public health work that focuses on connections among health-related problems, considers those connections when developing health-related policies, and aligns with other avenues of social change to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy. Related Concepts
TTransition Change or movement from one to state of a system to another, typically measured by a flow-rate. VVariable causality A view of causal relationships in which one or more factors are assigned the role of a proximal or distal cause. Common assumptions are that the factors are independent, causality runs in one direction, and impacts are instantaneous, linear and constant (Richmond and Peterson, 1997). Related Concepts Back to top WWayfinding Knowing where you are, your destination, following a viable route, recognizing your destination, and reflecting on the journey. When people cannot do any or all of these things, we say they are disoriented. (http://www.wayfinding.com/disorient.htm) Related Concepts
Work The operation of a force in producing movement Related Concepts
Page last reviewed: January 30, 2008 Content source: Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion |
|
||||||||||||
|