Final answer:
Health is comprehensively defined by theorists such as Florence Nightingale, Imogene King, and Sister Callista Roy, emphasizing the individual's capacity for well-being, continuous adjustment, and personal integration. The WHO's definition also highlights the importance of physical, mental, and social dimensions of health influenced by an array of factors, with health needs identified through personal and research-based insights, especially considering evolutionary adaptations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of health has been defined in various ways by different nursing theorists. Florence Nightingale viewed health as not just the absence of disease, but as living in a state that allows a person to use their full capacity, in line with the laws of nature. Imogene King saw health as a dynamic life experience of a human being, which implies continuous adjustment to stressors in the internal and external environment through the use of resources to achieve maximum potential for daily living. Sister Callista Roy considered health as the process of becoming an integrated and whole person. According to Roy, health encompasses the richness of individual lifestyles and is characterized by a level of unity or integrity expressed through behaviors.
Maintaining health involves a balance of physical, mental, and social well-being, in accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) definition. This state of well-being is influenced by a complex interplay of biological, social, and environmental factors. Factors contributing to health and illness include genetic predisposition, lifestyle choices, social circumstances, and environmental exposures. The concept of health extends to the understanding of disease (a biological abnormality), illness (the sociocultural experience of disruptions to well-being), sickness (social perception of ill health), and malady, which broadly includes all of the above aspects.
Understanding these concepts is essential for identifying human health needs and their satisfaction, which involves not only personal experience but also knowledge from medical research and applying the evolutionary health principle. This principle considers the adaptation of our species over time and recognizes that deviations from natural environmental conditions likely indicate a state of ill health or maladjustment.