Health is a broad term that encompasses many aspects of well-being, from a person’s mental and emotional state to their ability to function physically. Defining health in this way allows for the consideration of all factors that contribute to an individual’s life and well-being, rather than just a focus on disease or symptomatology. Measuring the health of individuals and populations provides important insights into the origins of health problems and identifies opportunities for improving community health.
The concept of health has evolved, with the World Health Organization (WHO) promoting the development of a “health promotion” approach to encourage the understanding that a person’s health is more than just the absence of disease. This shift in definition acknowledges that the health of a person is dependent on many different factors, including personal behavior and genetic makeup and social and economic conditions.
There are numerous measures used to quantify a person’s health, such as a cholesterol or blood pressure reading, but one of the most important measures is a person’s functioning level and capacity to participate in society. This can be measured using a range of tools, such as interview and survey data.
As technology continues to advance, it has allowed for a number of different tools to be developed and implemented to measure the health of individuals and communities. For example, electronic medical records are allowing the tracking of a variety of information that can be used to identify trends in health and to inform medical decision-making. The increased availability of technology also has led to the development of a range of new health and wellness programs, such as corporate wellness programs.
While declining death rates and increasing life expectancy are signs of improved health, they fail to capture the full spectrum of what is important to a person’s sense of wellbeing. These other indicators include an individual’s ability to adapt to the occurrence of disease or symptoms; their quality of life; and how they perceive and respond to a given situation.
The traditional targets of health promotion interventions have been specific diseases or behaviors and categorical funding streams in both research and delivery of services encourage this type of approach. However, the field model of the determinants of health encourages the consideration of a broader array of targets, such as addressing the issues that lead to teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol use, crime and school dropout rates in order to improve a community’s overall functioning.
Measuring population health outcomes requires a combination of short- and long-term measures that provide a snapshot of an individual’s and community’s current health status and future trends. These measurements should be tracked over time at regular intervals to ensure the quality of data and to align with an organization’s objectives. These measurement tools should take into account the unique characteristics of each community and its underlying health risks to develop appropriate indicators for measuring and monitoring health. They should be tailored to the specific needs of each community and should allow for a comparison of subgroups within the target population to ensure that the results are valid.