Ideally, good health involves a balance of physical and mental well-being. The environment also affects health.
People are born with different genes that increase their risk for certain health conditions. Other factors, such as the social and economic environment and the amount of pollution in a community, can contribute to illness.
Definition
Health is an ever-evolving state of well-being that involves all the physical, mental and social dimensions of life. It is an individual’s ability to cope with stress, acquire skills and maintain relationships.
The definition of health has undergone significant transformations in the past few decades, as modern science understands how diseases work and discovers new ways to slow or stop them. However, despite the advances in understanding and diagnosis, many people still experience disease.
Health care must be based on the principle of pooling knowledge towards a shared purpose, in a climate of trust and respect. It must be focused on the social determinants of health — income, education, housing, social connections and support, environment and behaviours – that impact individuals’ lives.
Meaning
A person’s health can be defined by his or her lifestyle, which may involve diet and exercise, as well as by genetic factors. These factors can influence a person’s risk for disease, and they can affect their ability to cope with stress and lead a healthy life.
A more comprehensive definition of health focuses on a person’s ability to maintain a high level of physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being, not only while he or she is young but also throughout his or her lifetime. This definition is supported by the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 1948 declaration, which states that ‘health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.’
Despite the ubiquity of this definition and its emphasis on “complete” health, the fact that a person may experience many different levels of physical, mental, social, and spiritual wellbeing over his or her entire life means that defining health is more complex than simply stating that it is a’state of being free from disease or injury’. That’s why it’s important to develop a more inclusive and dynamic definition of health, one that can work for all people regardless of age or ability.
Context
Context is a key factor in the implementation of health interventions, which are typically effortful and complex. Implementation failure results in substantial waste of resource potential and undermines health outcomes. It is therefore necessary to design context-driven implementation strategies to avoid this.
Despite this, implementation research is not consistently clear on how to define context and its effect on the effectiveness of health interventions [6, 7]. In particular, this is particularly true within implementation science where the literature varies in how context is defined and measured.
This review systematically investigates how context is defined, measured and analysed within implementation science literature to improve the consistency of its use. In addition, an operational definition for context is developed. This may help to clarify how context influences implementation science and improve its effectiveness in improving health.
Application
Various mobile health applications are available to monitor a patient’s progress and help with a diagnosis. They can also be used to track medical supplies, blood tests, and injections as well.
Besides these, some applications can even be used to provide patients with a second opinion by connecting them with experts in certain diseases or ailments. This helps patients find a treatment plan that works best for them.
However, some mHealth applications may have privacy concerns and may harvest users’ personal information for commercial purposes. This data can be accessed by medical researchers, drug and medical device manufacturers, nonprofit organizations, and other entities.
As e-health and technology continue to converge, data protection is an important concern for both healthcare providers and citizens. Security threats such as ransomware and other cyber-attacks are increasing, and the data gathered by mHealth applications is vulnerable to these attacks.
