Health/Leisure Definitions_01

Definitions of Health Considering Both Stability and Actualization

Nursing theorist Imogene King has offered a definition of health that emphasizes both stability and actualization.  King has defined health as follows:

[Health is]a dynamic state in the life cycle of an organism which implies continuous adaptation to stress in the internal and external environment through optimum of use of one’s resources to achieve maximum potential of living.

Pender, who is also a nurse, has defined health similarily reflecting the stabilizing and actualizing tendencies.  Pender defined health in the following way:

Health is the actualization of inherent and acquired human potential through goal directed behavior, competent self-care, satisfying relationships, with others while adjustments are made as needed to maintain structural integrity and harmony with the environment.

Pender has identified 14 criteria for evaluating an individual’s state of health:

1. Exhibits personal growth and positive change over time.
2. Identifies long-term and short-term goals that guide behavior.
3. Prioritizes identified goals.
4. Exhibits awareness of alternative behavioral options to accomplish goals.
5. Perceives optimum health as a primary life purpose.
6. Engages in interpersonal relationships that are satisfying and fulfilling.
7. Actively seeks new experiences that expand knowledge or increase competencies for personal care.
8. Displays a high tolerance for new and unusual situations or experiences.
9. Derives satisfaction from the experiences of daily living.
10. Expends more energy in acting on the environment than in reacting to it.
11. Recognizes barriers to growth and deals constructively in removing or ameliorating them.
12. Uses self-monitoring and feedback from others to determine personal and social effectiveness.
13. Maintains conditions of internal stability compatible with continuing existence.
14. Anticipates internal and external threats to stability and takes preventative action.