Healing Health Care: From Sick Care Towards Salutogenic Healing Systems

Abstract

Aaron Antonovsky's salutogenic model is starting to impact health promotion at the level of theory and research. However, the benefits of Antonovsky's theory for population health promotion practices and health care restructuring are unrealized. This analysis uses the definition of health derived from complexity science as a lifelong, multidimensional adaptive process comprised of intersecting biological, psychological, social, environmental, and spiritual systems as a starting point for a salutogenic analysis of formal healthcare. Following Antonovsky's criticism of contemporary healthcare as resting upon a pathogenic paradigm, I outline four general shortcomings associated with the pathogenic approach to healthcare. The basic elements of a healthcare system designed according to principles derived from Antonovsky's salutogenic model of health are then presented. It is argued that Antonovsky's theory offers a productive basis for conceptualizing health and healthcare systems in that it allows us to grasp that debates between population health promotion and providing medical care, are, at their root, unproductive debates predicated on a false dichotomy. A salutogenic healthcare system is one which pays credence to the nested complexity of human health and strives to strike an adaptive balance between health production and the provision of medical care.

Self-Care and Sense of Coherence: A Salutogenic Model for Health and Care in Nursing Education

“…as indispensable for providing education in health patterns and good-care guidelines to their patients and users so that their positioning within the salutogenic model framework and its application in professional practice becomes paramount [ 85 , 86 , 87 ]. This addresses the need to change the culture and philosophy of care towards salutogenic health systems, paying credence to the nested complexity of human health and striving to strike an adaptive balance between health production and the provision of medical care [ 30 ]. Taking into account that nurses are considered reference care agents and health bellwether figures for public health systems, it seems to be necessary to identify these care professionals with the risk of a weak SOC and low self-care agency in order to carry out interventions aimed at improving their health status initially.…”

“…Of all the current health and healing models, the salutogenic model of health (SMH) is highlighted for its concern for and role in health management, leading to a notable increase of studies on this subject [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. This model is concerned with the relationship between how people approach stressful situations (such as mental and chronic health conditions and their consequences) and the individual ability to self-manage and cope with these situations [ 30 ]. The salutogenic paradigm has marked the development of the construct called a sense of coherence (SOC), which is directly related to the ability to employ cognitive, affective, and behavioral strategies, which help to improve the ability to overcome stress [ 31 ].…”

Cultivating Psychological Resilience of Israeli Medical Directors of COVID-19 Divisions: The Dynamic Spheres of Salutogenics

“…Individuals with SoC adapt and become resilient in the face of life's obstacles; they have a positive and productive attitude enabling them to understand and meet complex challenges ( 28 ). They are consistently and enduringly confident that the stimuli deriving from their internal and external environment are structured, predictable and explicable; that they are able to meet demands with the resources available to them; and that these demands are worthy of engagement.…”

Gestão de planos de cuidados a idosos: percepões de profissionais da saúde e assistência social acerca dos desafios e possibilidades de superação

“…Há evidências de que esse tipo de conduta promove mais saúde, sujeitos mais reflexivos e autônomos e transformação sociossanitária Vettore, 2008;Fries, 2020).…”