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NRS325: Family-centered Health Promotion

Student’s First Name, Middle Initial(s), Last Name

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Instructor’s Name and Title

Assignment Due Date

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NRS325: Family-centered Health Promotion

The concept of health has changed throughout time tremendously. Ever since the earliest

days, every nation around the world have defined its own idea of what it means to be healthy.

Nowadays, it is hard to imagine how one would have survived without technology and advanced

pharmacological inventions.

In ancient times, the concept of health coexisted with religion. There were many beliefs that

to achieve health one may need to pay respect for gods. In the work “Redefining Health” Badash, et

al.(2017), mention a lot of spiritual rituals that were needed to be done in order to pursue

healthiness. There were a lot of ceremonies that some countries and nations still follow. However,

the first major medical breakthrough happened when Hippocrates had separated actual medicine and

religion. Hippocrates considered involving both behavioral and medical actions. His beliefs are

considered to be the roots of modern eastern medicine.

Another scientific progress was made through the era of Roman Empire. Medical

practitioners of that time believed that human’s body was an architectural building. Thus, it helped

to develop a plan to follow to heal and maintain health. Also, the development of better living

conditions made a vital impact on maintaining health and well-being. The health of human body was

no longer depended only on religious beliefs of individual. Such architectural approach contributed

to discovery of cells, microbes and genes in 17th and 18th centuries. In 20th century the World’s

Health Organization was found. It deals with a lot of problems and tries to find way to deal with

spreading of a number of diseases. Although, the initiatives of this organization are not completely

flawless, it is worth mentioning that WHO (World’s Health Organization) has made a world a better

place.
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As well as a concept of health has changed throughout time, the promotion of health has

changed too. In ancient times there were beliefs that religion affects physical health directly. It was

also believed that prayers and sacrifices provide healthiness. According to Edington, et al. (p.242),

“health promotion has evolved relatively rapidly in response to the advances in our knowledge about

health and changes in society” (2016). One may suggest that social media and influencers promote

such way of life and people are more and more eager to follow that. At a time, when social media

affects each step of one’s life, it become impossible to be ignorant towards one’s health.

Not only influencers and social networks helped to promote health awareness, but the

governmental bodies as well. Holdsworth (p.69) brings to attention that “movement towards a

nationwide recognition of health has also occurred through health policy legislation” (2019). The

Affordable Care Act by Obama has helped to set the course into reformation of the health system in

the United States. Though, the reform itself is not totally unblemished, it helps to improve health

system excellence and performance of health system, as well as develop access to health insurance.

This all leads to development of value-based system that nurses and medical practitioners

use nowadays. Such system usually measures the costs and outcomes of procedures, systematizes

amenities in practice units, and incorporate health between facilities. The biggest problem nowadays

is the balance between people’s needs and opportunities. In the world ruled by science nurses should

address evidence-based practice to help their patients. This helps to improve patient’s outcomes and

prevent them from further complications. Thus, the patients will care about their health more.

To conclude, the development of society and scientific progress affected health vitally. The

perfect balance between affordable healthcare and qualitative healthcare is still needed to be found.

The modern definition of health requires to implement a value-based system that will provide

patient needs and help to meet them.

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References

Badash I., et al., 2017, Redefining Health: The Evolution of Health Ideas from Antiquity to the Era

of Value-Based Car, Cureus 9(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5346014/

Edington, et al., 2016, The Future of Health Promotion in the 21st Century Am J Lifestyle

Med.10(4), 242-252 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6125058/

Holdsworth M., 2019 Health, Wellness and Wellbeing

https://journals.openedition.org/interventionseconomiques/6322