Title: Perspectives on illnesses and health and explanations about illness
Course: Level 3 - Health Education and Promotion > Section: Factors affecting human behaviour

Perspectives on Illnesses and Health

There are three states that determine the negative health status of an individual. These are disease, illness and sickness. These three states are similar and can be used interchangeably. However, social scientists agree that they are different and have their meaning. Accordingly, they have described each of them as follows:

A. Disease--- it refers to a negative condition of an individual which is confirmed by a health worker through certain scientific investigation methods, such as physical examination, taking history, blood smear test or x-rays. Disease also refers to the presence of damage in the body parts due to the pathogens and other factors. Disease is objective and needs an action by health workers who will be asked to identify and treat the occurrence and then care for the person who has the condition.

B. Illness--refers to a personal or subjective sate of being not well. i.e.,. Illness is psychological and changes the actions of the individual, making him or her communicate their personal perspective of the negative occurrence to others, for example by calling for help. These feelings are often referred to as symptoms, and "illness" can only be indirectly accessed through the individual's reports. Perceptions of illness are highly culture-related, while disease usually is not. For example, I am not okay today, I have got a headache, I think I have to see a doctor

C. Sickness--- this also refers to a negative condition of a body identified by society. Sickness is a social dysfunction. "Sickness" is a social identity as a result of the poor health of an individual defined by others concerning the activity of that individual. Sickness is assessed by measuring levels of performance concerning expected social activities when these levels fail to meet social standards. For example, what is wrong with you? can't you see what you are doing? are you crazy?...

Explanations About Causes of Illnesses

How illness is often explained varies radically from culture to culture. For example, The people who believe in the evil eye or bad spirits are most likely to refer the sick person to a Holy Spirit; while those who believe that strange symptoms are because of a problem in the mind would probably take the person to a mental hospital. These differences can be broadly generalised regarding two explanatory traditions about the cause of illness. These are:

A. Naturalistic explanation-- assumes that the cause of the disease is impersonal and can be can be potentially understood and cured by the application of the scientific method. Therefore, according to this assumption, the cause of a disease might be bacteria, viruses, parasites and other scientifically known factors. Individuals or communities who think that illnesses are caused by naturalistic causes are more likely to choose modern treatment and attend for treatment at a hospital or health centre or health post.

B. Personalistic explanation-- assumes that the cause of diseases is traditionally known and determined. Therefore, according to this assumption, diseases are caused by a curse of the supernatural beings. Those individuals who perceive illnesses as having personalistic causes are more likely to choose traditional treatments such as holy water and go to see a traditional healer or a religious leader.

As health educators, your responsibilities will be to understand and identify the individual and community-level perceptions towards disease and educate people towards naturalistic explanations of the cause of illnesses while being aware of their personalistic ideas.