Philosophy Statement

There are many different philosophical schools including realism, idealism, pragmatism,
and eclectic. The philosophical school I endorse is eclectic because I believe that in any given
situation one needs to be able to adapt to the situation, people, environment, and surroundings.
One cannot go in with any preconceptions, one must be flexible and adjust their model and
theories to the situation; this is known as eclectic. One can mix together many different
philosophies and make their own individual, unique philosophy. This impacts my philosophy in
life, my philosophy of health, and my philosophy of health education.
In life our philosophy impacts our actions and thoughts, it impacts how we view the
world and God, and it impacts everything. That is why it is important that we analyze and
critique our philosophies so that we can better understand ourselves and the situation we find
ourselves in. In my life I highly value community, including my family and friends. They are
what keep me going in life and are who I go to with my full range of emotions; they cry with me
when I have been dealt a heartache and they celebrate with me when I experience a victory. I
value family the most because these are the relationships I have that will never change and I
cannot lose - they love me despite my faults and make me feel special. These earthly
relationships point me towards God and shape my view of my relationship with God because
they are what shape my view of love. As a result my social health impacts my spiritual health. I
also highly value quality of life, it is way more important to me than the quantity of life. My
sister was ill her whole life with a chronic disease, cystic fibrosis; however, when she was
growing up and during her last days we never molly coddled her or tried to stop her living life to
the fullest due to fear of her getting sick. Instead we let her live life as a normal human being and
she experienced a fun filled life. She grew up just like any of us experiencing a high quality of

life even though her life was rampant with disease and infection and even though her life was cut
short. Another thing important to me is exercise and wellness, I take great pride in being fit and I
enjoy being active. I play a Division I sport and I love my sport and my team. I learn a lot from
sport and it has become a huge part of my identify. However, most important of all to me is God,
I want to love and serve Him in everything I do and I want to serve Him with my whole being. I
want to use my profession as one of many avenues to do this. I have been in Uganda on many
occasions and I want to improve the health of communities in poor countries like this in order to
practically show the gospel and to give me a means to love on others and show them Christ. I
want to help improve peoples quality of life and achieve equality of all people groups regardless
of the demographics one is born into.
Ideals are goals that one holds that are held high in esteem and are the best possible
situation and outcome; however, unfortunately they are unlikely to happen due to the fact that
there are barriers preventing their outcome. Ideals I hold include that I want perfection to be
achieved in the area of quality of life and I desire for everyone to have a good social health. My
biggest ideal in life is that everyone has access to high quality affordable healthcare. If they have
this they can gain help if and when they need it, which would help to improve the quality of life.
Other ideals I hold are that everyone can love and be loved. Relationships are vital to our wellbeing, we are created for intimacy and relationships and the social dimension of health impacts
every other aspect because it increases ones self-perception of health. If one has no support base
they are likely to become depressed and lonely impacting ones mental health, it can also
negatively impact ones physical health because it may lower their immune system and they are
more likely to have a negative outlook making recovery slower. If one has good social health and
a good community of people around them this helps to improve ones quality of life also.

Our ideals and philosophy all influence what we believe and the way we act. What is
important to me and my ideals dictate my actions and thoughts, they shapes my decisions in life.
They influence the way I act because they makes me want to constantly be asking myself, how
will this action/decision affect my health? How will this affect my quality of life, not just now,
but also in the long run? It makes me evaluate my decisions and ensure they are the right
decisions for my body and for my future. My ideals also make me want to be intentional in my
relationships, to be pouring into them so that I can have a deep connection with people and be
able to lean on them when I need them and vice versa. Strong relationships and a deep support
group are one of the many building blocks to a healthy person and a good life. These ideals help
shape my social life and how I address people. It not only helps me improve my life, but it also
helps open my eyes to the people around me who are hurting and without a strong support base,
those who are in need of love and a friendship. In turn these same people may in fact end up
being the same people I may turn to in the future when I am the one in need of comfort and
support. Our ideals and philosophy shape how we view life and shape our lifes purpose and
goals. As a result of what is important to me and the ideals I hold I believe the purpose of life is
to love God, love people and do good in order to build Gods Kingdom and follow Jesus
example of life on earth.
Health is defined by many different people in many different ways. It is open to
interpretation and there are many theories of what health is and there are also many different
definitions of health. Health professionals have differing views on health and its dimensions and
effects. Health, according to the World Health Organization, is the state of complete mental,
physical, and social wellbeing not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 1947, p.
1). I agree with the WHOs definition to some extent; however, I believe it has some aspects

missing from it. I agree health is not just an absence of disease because it includes more aspects
than just physical health. One can be absent of illness or disease yet still be unhealthy. Where I
believe the WHOs definition falls short is that it says health is a state of completewellbeing;
however, in my opinion, one can be healthy and at their maximum possible health without
reaching complete health in all of these categories. For example, someone who is terminally ill
with cancer can be fully mentally and socially well, having and utilizing a good strong support
base and also having a positive outlook and belief they are going to get well. At this point in time
they are at their maximum level of health, yes they are not physically healthy, but they are taking
control of the controllables and they are healthy in the other aspects of health. Also, there are
more things than these three aspects that impact a persons health; these include, emotional
health, and environmental health. Health depends on ones geographical area because this
impacts ones knowledge of healthy behaviors, access to health and quality of health care. Health
is a balance of all these aspects and it depends on a lot of factors. This is a result of in part the
philosophy of symmetry which to me holds a lot of credit because it makes sense that each
aspect of health has equal significance (Cottrell et al., 2015). In light of this, I believe health is a
multidimensional concept involving many contributing factors, it is impacted by physical
wellbeing, geographical environment, social setting and relationships, mental state and emotional
outlook. When one has a good equilibrium of all of these aspects one can be considered a healthy
individual. Health is important in order to lead a good life, if one aspect is off balance it may
begin to tip the scales in other aspects of health. If one becomes mentally ill with depression it
will begin to impact ones social relations as they may begin to become a recluse which results in
them cutting off ones relationships with the outside world and hence impacting their social
health. They may also begin to change their behaviors, exercising less and eating less/more or the

wrong types of foods which will ultimately impact their physical health. This shows the circular
aspect of health.
Health is a concept that is individualistic. People define health differently, peoples
perception of health is different and this is often impacted by many things such as society, culture
and past experiences. In my opinion, health is a circular concept, each dimension, social,
spiritual, physical, mental and emotional health, affects the other dimensions. A healthy
individual will be balanced and healthy in all of these categories; however, one can still be
healthy if one of these categories has taken a turn for the worst; yet, it is a delicate balance to
maintain. My sister is an example of this, she was physically sick her whole life; however, she
was a healthy individual in every other aspect of the word.
I would define health as a balance of all of these dimensions. Wellness according to
Cottrell et al., is, an approach to health that focuses on balancing the many aspects, or
dimensions, of a persons life through increasing the adoption of health enhancing conditions and
behaviors rather than attempting to minimize conditions of illness (2015). The dimensions of
wellness include the physical, environmental, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual
dimensions. The continuum of wellness is a scale assuming that everyone has some form of
wellness. At the high end of the scale/continuum is one who has all dimensions of wellness at
maximum and they are at their optimum health. At the bottom of the continuum they have little
wellness.
The purpose of health is to help one to live a good uncomplicated life every day. If one
has health, one can do anything one puts ones mind to, there is nothing holding one back. Health
allows one to live a daily life without any problems or hindrances, it helps one achieve ones
goals. Health improves ones quality of life making life.

The predominate health education philosophies include the behavior change philosophy,
the decision-making philosophy, the cognitive-based philosophy, the freeing/functioning
philosophy and the social change philosophy (Cottrell, Girvan, McKenzie, & Seabert, 2015).
Cottrell et al. (2015) describes each of these philosophies; according to him: behavior change
philosophy aims to change a persons harmful behaviors through monitoring and setting goals.
The decision-making philosophy is when one is put into many simulated decision making
situations and one must critically decide the best answer. Cognitive-based philosophy is based on
increasing the education and knowledge of individuals. The freeing/functioning philosophy says
that people can make health choices not based the needs of the community but rather focused on
their own individual interests and needs. The social change philosophy focuses on making
changes to policies, the economy and social settings in order to improve health (Cottrell et al.,
2015).
Health education according to Cottrell et al., is any combination of planned learning
experiences using evidence based practices and/or sound theories that provide the opportunity to
acquire knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed adopt and maintain healthy behaviors (2015). In
contrast, health promotion is any planned combination of educational, political, environmental,
regulatory, or organizational mechanisms that support actions and conditions of living conducive
to the health of individuals, groups, and communities (Joint Committee, 2012, p. 18). Health
education helps bring everyone onto the same page and it helps to remove and challenge
individuals barriers to health. Health educators are responsible for accurately providing
information to their audience and educating themselves on the matters of health in the
community they are addressing. They are also responsible in the field of ethics, doing things
responsibly, equally and respectfully by the standards of their profession. Health education aims

to equip people to increase their health by helping them make informed decisions regarding their
behaviors and actions. It aims to help people address specific dimensions of their wellness and
increase on the continuum helping them come closer to their aim of optimum wellness. Health
education however has its limitations; as a health educator one can only provide the information,
one cannot implement the change needed to occur by the individual at risk. Health educators
cannot provide the desire and motivation for change in the community or individual they can
only help provide the means and the knowledge to the individual or community on how and why
to change. Health education is a process, everyone holds prior preconceptions and beliefs about
health and each person views health differently. Health education aims to address these
preconceptions and bring a universal concept of health and wellness to everyone. It is important
for a health educator to develop a philosophy of health because it dictates ones beliefs, motives
and actions. When one realizes health is a continuum it helps one focus on how one can move up
the continuum and set oneself small goals in order to achieve this.
I believe the purpose of health education is to give others the necessary knowledge in
order for them to be able to make wise decisions regarding their health and help them move
closer in the step towards positive health and avoidance of disease. A person is health educated
when he/she knows the steps that one needs to take in order to advance in ones health and when
he/she is aware of the health risks and health benefits and where to get health advice and care if
it is needed.

References
Cottrell, R. R., Girvan, J. T., McKenzie, J. F., & Seabert, D. (2015). Principles and foundations
of health promotion and education (6th ed.). Glenview, IL: Pearson.
Donatelle, R.J. (2011). Health: The basics, green edition. San Francisco: Pearson Education.
Joint Committee on Health Education and Health Promotion Terminology. (2012). Report
of the 2011 joint committee on health education and promotion terminology.
Reston, VA: AAHE.
Rash, J.K. (2010). Philosophical bases for health education. In J.M. Black, S. Furney, H.M. Graf,
& A.E. Nolte (Eds.), Philosophical Foundations of Health Education (pp. 7-10). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Welle, H.M., Russell, R.D., & Kittleson, M.J. (1995). Philosophical trends in health
education: Implications for the 21st century. Journal of Health Education, 26(6),
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World Health Organization (WHO). (1947). Constitution of the World Health
Organization.