Definition of Wellness and Wellbeing
Question:
Discuss about the Wellness and Wellbeing The Quality Of Life.
Wellness is an active procedure that explains the existence of positive health within one’s self. Wellness includes self-actualization of wellbeing and the quality of life. It is determined by the nutrition, health, and safety of a person. It is the synonym of health and is one of the key components of life (Carrington & McIntosh, 2013). Wellbeing, on the other hand, is the evaluation of how individuals feel about themselves, both mentally and physically. Wellbeing is more than remaining free from ailment. The feeling of joy and fulfillment are the essential piece of Wellbeing It includes the feeling of satisfaction, happiness, successful social functioning and good physical health (Gillett-Swan & Sargeant, 2015). A strong sense of well-being results improvising confidence and optimism among children that maximizes their potential to learn and grow. Researchers revealed that wellness and wellbeing in children are determined and achieved through quality care of the child (Liamputtong, Fanany & Verrinder, 2012). Throughout the globe, children face wellness problems like emotional disorders, chronic physical conditions, and psychological issues. These effects can be successfully reduced by improving practices that result in health, social adjustment and cognitive development in children. Children’s excellence of wellness and wellbeing is directly related to children care (Arcidiacono, Eiroa-Orosa & Di Martino, 2017). One of the major factors indicating the wellness and wellbeing is the limit to which it nurtures healthy children since they will become healthy citizens in the near future to make vibrant communities. The six dimension of wellness explores the concept of wellness and wellbeing in early learning and care settings in children (Bethell et al., 2017).The essay discusses the problems regarding wellness and wellbeing among children and young adults. It further highlighted the major factors influencing the health and well-being status of the children in the current decade. The essay concluded the importance of early childhood programs in order to achieve wellness and wellbeing.
The concept of wellness is much wider than nutrition and mere physical health. The concept involves the full integration of stages of mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing (Gillett-Swan & Sargeant, 2015).The seven determinants or dimensions of wellness include social, emotional, spiritual, environmental, occupational, physical and intellectual wellness.
Social wellness is the capability to connect with individuals around the world. The ability to maintain a healthy and positive relationship with family, friends, and classmates results in social wellness (Henderson-Wilson, 2012). Emotional wellness is the capability to evaluate and get along with challenges in the life of the individuals. The capability to share feelings such as anger, fear, sadness, stress, hope, love and joy in an efficient manner contributes to emotional wellness (Best, Manktelow & Taylor, 2014). The concept of spiritual wellness is the capability to maintain harmony and peace throughout the life of individuals. The ability to maintain congruency among actions and values and to understand the basic purpose that binds the relationship together contributes to the spiritual wellness. The concept of the environmental wellness is the capability to recognize one’s own responsibility for the quality of water, air and the land in the environment (Bethell et al., 2017). The ability to make a positive effect in the environmental quality contributes to the wellness of the environment. Intellectual wellness is the ability to expose the minds for innovative plans and experiences which can be utilized to make personal thoughts, decisions and interactions in the community (Davis, Costigan & Schubert, 2017). The urge to know newer concepts, seek challenges and improve skills contributes to the intellectual wellness of an individual. Finally, the concept of physical wellness is the ability to preserve a healthy and high quality of life which enables the overcoming of the physical stress and fatigues in the daily activities of an individual (Oberle, 2018). The ability to understand the significant impact of behaviors on an individual’s wellness and adoption of healthy habits will result in physical wellness.
Importance of Wellness and Wellbeing in Children’s Lives
Wellbeing is a positive outcome that evaluates the rate of the wellbeing of an individual. Wellbeing integrates mental health and physical health that results in a more holistic approach to understanding the preventions and health promotions (Britto et al., 2017). It is a valid population outcome that is measured and evaluated beyond the morbidity, mortality and economic status. Since the concept of wellbeing is subjective, it is measured by self-reports. The usage of the measurement of self-report is different from that of the measurement of the objective measures like unemployment levels, household income etc. There are varieties of well-being tools that measure and evaluate the self-reported well being in various ways depending on the measurement criteria (Priest et al, 2015). Throughout the years, different instruments have been introduced for the purpose of public health surveillance. These are the general well-being schedules, global life satisfaction, quality of well-being scale, satisfaction with emotional and social support, satisfaction with life scale, overall happiness, positive and negative affect scales.
Some of the notable health models are the Medical Model, Ecological Model, and Holistic Model.
- Medical model is a pathology based model. The limitation of the mode is it has no personal or environmental considerations. The model causes direct impact on the relationship and lacks certain preventive components. The model provides prevalence and incidence of disease (Caplan, Loomis & Di Santo, 2016).
- The ecological health model recognizes the interconnection among people in the social and physical environment (Fox & Moreland, 2015).This health model includes factors of environment and determinants of health.
- The holistic health model defines health in terms of the whole person (Carrington & McIntosh, 2013). This health model includes dimensions of wellness like intellectual, spiritual, social, emotional and physical wellness.
Children health is determined by the influence of several factors. Some of the important factors that can influence a child’s attainment of wellness are biological, behavioral, environmental, Social and media aspects (Arcidiacono, Eiroa-Orosa & Di Martino, 2017). Biological factors include parental influences, prior health status, and possibilities due to perinatal and postnatal events. Behavioral factors include the children’s emotion, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and cognitive abilities that influence the outcomes of health (Jones, Greenberg & Crowley, 2015). Environmental factors are wider in range; it includes toxins like lead, air pollution, infectious agents and certain social factors, socioeconomic resources in community and family. Besides, certain segregation like culture, racism, quality of services and some of the notable environmental influences. The potential negative impacts of the social media on the health of children and young adults has been one of the notable factors that influence a child’s attainment of wellness (Swist et al., 2015). The increased use of technology and the increases addiction in social media in affecting the health of the children as well as the adolescent group. The use of social media targets the mental wellness. Social media is harmful, young adults and adolescents group faces higher risk in the exposure of pornographies, online dating, access to dangerous websites and other risk-taking behaviors (Best, Manktelow& Taylor, 2014). Children become the victims of cyberbullying. online networking can have a negative effect on kids. A few dangers of online networking for youngsters are less control over substance, insufficient information of person to person communication destinations, detachment from social life and harassing over social networking sites. The effect of social media may be considered as the most important issue in today’s decade (Fox & Moreland, 2015). With the adverse risk of internet addiction, sleeping problems and increased insomnia among children due to the use of electronic media to the social, legal and psychological risks of sexting, the effect of social media is one of the increasing issues among the children.
The Seven Dimensions of Wellness
Equity in health is attained when an individual has the opportunity to attain their full health potential and when no one is disadvantaged from attaining the potential due to his or her social position or other social circumstances (Portsmouth, 2012). Health concludes a different meaning to communities and individuals at large. Safe and Good health is necessary for the well-being of the individuals (Horsley & Oliver, 2015). This provides intrinsic value to the pursuit of joy, comfort, and contentment of life. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), explains the core entitlements to the fulfillment of human essentials. These are the right to social security, right to work, education, family life and participation in cultural life. It is the right of each and every individual on the planet to attain wellness and wellbeing in respect of their health, mental status, and spiritual wellness. According to the law of equality, there should not be any discrimination among any individual in the procedure for the attainment of wellness and wellbeing (Liamputtong, Fanany & Verrinder, 2012). Every person is entitled to and has the right to a healthy living life irrespective of their caste, colour, sex, religion, country, origin, caste and other factors. Equity is one of the real issues identified with children’s prosperity (Priest et al, 2015). Youngsters regularly encounter segregation related to sex, social discrimination, and racial discrimination all through their youth. Children’s tend to achieve better outcomes when their varied range of abilities, strengths, interest and cultural practices are supported and understood. It is vital to value and respect diversity in case of children for developing a strong sense of identity (Arcidiacono, Eiroa-Orosa & Di Martino, 2017).The principles of diversity and equality are directly linked to the development of a sense of belonging, wellbeing and identity among the children so that they become confident learners and effective communicators in the near future (Gray, Richer & Harper, 2016). Researchers explained that quality early experiences for the children results in success at academics and personal wellbeing in the later life. The principles of equality and justice are recognized internationally in professional and legislation practices within the educational platform (Carrington & McIntosh, 2013). Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) ensured equality, diversity, and justice as the fundamental rights of each and every child (World Health Organization., 2012). The principle of equality and justice in the early childhood education are connected and it covers a diverse range of ideas. Children’s cultural histories, family, and personal habits shape their development and learning procedure (Black et al., 2017). Children learn effectively when they are respected in terms of any diversity and are provided with the best opportunities, support, and experiences.
Early years of childhood set the foundation to how children observe themselves and the world around them. The character of the children begins to grow and develop at the early years (Oberle, 2018). Hence it is very important to support the development procedure of the children to achieve wellness and wellbeing. Children are mostly influenced by the ecological system, particularly the microsystem i.e. the family. The positive emotional interactions and experiences with the children are thus essential for the development of emotional and social well-being in children(Caplan, Loomis & Di Santo, 2016).
Factors Influencing Children’s Wellness and Wellbeing
Developing children well-being means supporting all the children. Not only their academic achievements but also their emotional, social, physical and cognitive wellbeing. It means ensuring institutions, child care centers and early years programs are safe and welcoming physical environments (Arcidiacono, Eiroa-Orosa & Di Martino, 2017). Achievement of wellness and wellbeing depends on the wisdom, knowledge and willingness of students, parents, community organizations, government ministries to make a healthy, safe and caring environment.
The early years period is an essential time for child wellbeing and wellness. When children grow and develop in safe home learning, with secure relationships and get good nutrition, the possibility of lasting positive health and wellbeing is strong (Bethell et al., 2017). Whereas, adverse experiences in the early years of childhood like negligence, poverty, child abuse results in negative impact on the health and well-being of the children. Besides this wide range of future outcomes like anti-social behavior, premature health is also affected (Horsley & Oliver, 2015). People in the lower socio-economic group are more likely to experience ill health and die earlier compared to the advantaged group. These differences in the status of health are known as health inequalities. These arise from the social factors that effect on the scenario in which children are born and developed. Hence childcare needs to be conceptualized as a chance for learning and socialization (Best, Manktelow & Taylor, 2014). The focus should be given to making a quality early learning environment by the actions and the policies(Portsmouth, 2012). Universal and basic care services across the health proportions and education sectors require to be better connected and coordinated with one another for directing to various risk factors of the environment and for responding to complex requirements of the children and their families(Arcidiacono, Eiroa-Orosa & Di Martino, 2017). Services need to be more adaptable so that they can compensate for the rising requirements and issues of children’s health and wellness. In the current health and social care provisions, health and well being is a high priority. The importance of promotion of health and wellbeing is due to the increasing trend morbidity and mortality from illness, problems and chronic diseases related to health.
Children’s health and wellbeing should not be compromised due to sociological factors and cultural diversities throughout the world.
Conclusion
Youngsters change and develop because of the diverse well-being measurements.The development procedure plays an imperative part in molding and deciding their future wellbeing and prosperity. It can be reasoned that intervening early in the life course has the best prospects to stop or extensively enhance some of the wellbeing and wellbeing inconveniences found in adult life. The most direct method for enhancing results in childhood is to guarantee that all caretaking situations in the early years are reliably sustaining, fortifying, and sort out the wellbeing and development necessities of youthful kids.
Early interventions and preventions have become a distinctive feature of children policy developments across the globe. The early childhood programs emphasize the importance early intervention and prevention for the improvement of health and wellbeing outcomes and reduction of inequalities (Best, Manktelow & Taylor, 2014). The programs aim to improve the outcomes for young children’s and their families by giving enough support services like child development and health assessments, early child care and education and more. One of the notable health programmes in Australia is KidsMatter (Black et al., 2017). It is an initiative by the government of Australia for the prevention, promotion and early intervention regarding mental health. KidsMatter targets on the mental health requirements of children and focuses to contribute to reduce mental health difficulties among children, improve mental health and well being of children and provides support to the families and children who are experiencing mental health difficulties. Promotion of children’s safety and health and ensuring their total wellbeing requires critical thought process of the educators. The educators need to know and understand each and every child and the circumstances in their life so that they can facilitate each of them with their requirements. Health and wellbeing are not solely determined in the healthcare area, it is recognized in each and every sector. It is important to promote early childhood programmes, therapy sessions for both children and family members for improving the wellness and wellbeing of the children.
The Role of Early Childhood Programs
References
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