Abstract
The World Health Organization formulated its definition of health following World War II, during a period when the social health of societies was in question. Since that definition in 1946, social scientists have dutifully followed its precepts and attempted to operationalize its concepts, including social well-being. But, American social scientists have found that psychosocial well-being may be a more accurate formulation of mental and social well-being, and they have questioned the reasonableness of a definition that requires complete health. It is proposed that scholars refine the WHO definition over the next several years, while at the same time creating bridges between a new conceptual definition and more detailed operational definitions. An expansion of the WHO definition may be necessary to include a spiritual dimension of health if social scientists can agree that spirituality is part of health and not merely an influence.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BarenthinI.: 1975, ‘The concept of health in community dentistry’, Journal of Public Health Dentistry 35, pp. 17–184.
BaschP.: 1990, Textbook of International Health (Oxford University Press, New York).
BellR. et al. (eds.): 1983, Assessing Health and Human Service Needs (Human Sciences Press, New York).
BreslowL.: 1972, ‘A quantitative approach to the world health organization definition of health: Physical, mental and social well-being’, International Journal of Epidemiology 1, pp. 347–355.
ChisholmB.: 1948, ‘Organization for world health’, Mental Hygiene 32, pp. 364–371.
CornfordF. (ed.): 1970, The Republic of Plato (Oxford University Press, London).
EllisonC.: 1991, ‘Religious involvement and subjective well-being’, Journal of Health and Social Behavior 32, pp. 80–99.
GarnerL.: 1979, The NHS: Your Money or Your Life (Penguin Books, New York).
HeitzmannC. and KaplanR.: 1984, ‘Interaction between sex and social support in the control type II diabetes mellitus’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 52, pp. 1087–1089.
HoT.: 1982, Measuring Health as a Component of Living Standards (The World Bank, Washington, DC).
IdlerE.: 1987, ‘Religious involvement and the health of the elderly: Some hypotheses and an initial test’, Social Forces 66, pp. 226–238.
KaplanR. and AndersonJ.: 1988, ‘A general health policy model: Update and applications’, Health Services Research 23, pp. 203–235.
KingM. et al.: 1994, ‘Spiritual and religious beliefs in acute illness: Is this a feasible area for study?’, Social Science & Medicine 38, pp. 631–636.
LarsonJ.: 1991, The Measurement of Health: Concepts and Indicators (Greenwood Press, New York).
LevinJ.: 1994, ‘Religion and health: Is there an association, is it valid, and is it causal?’, Social Science & Medicine 38, pp. 1475–1482.
Moore, T.: 1993, ‘Care of the soul: The benefits and costs of a more spiritual life’, Psychology Today, May/June, 28, 30, 76, 77.
PannenborgC.: 1979, A New International Health Order: An Inquiry into the International Relations of World Health and Medical Care (Sijthoff & Noordhoff, The Netherlands).
PatrickD. and EricksonP.: 1993, Health Status and Health Policy: Quality of Life in Health Care Evaluation and Resource Allocation (Oxford University Press, New York).
PriestL. and KellerJ.: 1993, ‘Spirituality and family therapy: Spiritual beliefs, myths, and metaphors’, 19, pp. 137–148.
StanderV. et al.: 1994, ‘Spirituality, religion and family therapy: Competing or complementary worlds?’, The American Journal of Family Therapy 22, pp. 27–41.
Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1994 (U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington).
WareJ. et al.: 1981, ‘Choosing measures of health status for individuals in general populations’, American Journal of Public Health 71, pp. 620–625.
WareJ. and YoungJ.: 1979, ‘Issues in the conceptualization and measurement of value placed on health’, in S.Mushkin and D.Dunlop (eds.), Health: Is It Worth It? Measures of Health Benefits (Pergammon, New York).
WoodP. H. N.: 1986, ‘Health and disease and its importance for models relevant to health research’, in B. Z.Nizetic et al. (eds.), Scientific Approaches to Health and Health Care (World Health Organization, Copenhagen).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Larson, J.S. The World Health Organization's definition of health: Social versus spiritual health. Soc Indic Res 38, 181–192 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300458
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300458