Introduction
A community’s health is assessed by some predetermined factors which give the description of the various facets of the society. The following factors form the basis for judgment whether a community fulfils the health standards or not (Joyce, 2005).
Health Management
This is also known as health perception and addresses the way a community addresses compliance issues to the stipulated health requirements. Some of the activities under focus here include how frequent a community seeks for medical checkups and involvement in regular exercises.
Nutritional-Metabolic
This pattern describes the food and fluid intake of individuals in a community with respect to the metabolic requirements of the body. The indicators of this pattern are skin condition, hair, teeth, height and weight, nails and mucous membranes (Edwards, 2007).
Elimination
A waste elimination pattern from the body of the individuals in the community is an important description that contributes to the overall health status of the society. The frequency of elimination of wastes such as stool and urine, the conditions of the wastes and the individual’s experiences during the process are clearly monitored.
Activity-Exercise
Recreation, leisure activities and other physical activities help in gauging the health conditions of the community. This pattern gives the rating of respiratory as well as cardiovascular status of the individuals in relation with the daily living patterns of the community members.
Cognitive-Perceptual
The sensual patterns and the cognitive ability of the individuals in the community are used as a rationale in this section. Sensory functions include smell, hearing, Vision, touch, pain, taste, management and perception while cognitive factors are language, decision making and memory (Daniels, 2003).
Sleep-Rest
Sleeping and relaxations patterns are of significance in a community’s health assessment. The quality and quantity of sleep with respect to energy, routines and sleeping aids are of essence in telling the health patterns of the society.
Self Concept
This is also known as self perception and details on how individuals in the society views their health status. The factors involved in this pattern include; attitudes about self, body comfort, feeling state, body image, objective data like body posture, voice tone, eye contact, and perception of abilities.
Role-Relationship
The roles and the relationships between the members of the community is also a health pattern of concern. The current major responsibilities and roles, family satisfaction, social or work relationships are important indicators of health in the community.
Sexuality-Reproductive
The satisfaction that ensues from the sexual and reproductive patterns of the society is a key feature in gauging the health of a community. The emphasis of this pattern is the history and number of childbirth and pregnancy; sexual functioning challenges and satisfaction emanating from sexual relationship (Goldstein, 2009).
Stress Tolerance
The pattern of coping with stress emanating from work or social misfortunes is a factor used to assess the health conditions of the community. This will include features such as availability of the support systems and the capacity of the individuals and the community at large to control the stress or manage it.
Value-Belief
The pattern of the societal beliefs such as spiritual, values objectives and goals that act as the driving power of the society and also act as the basis of making choices and decisions. The affiliations related to spiritual issues and the communities perceptions of significant life values and beliefs aid in conflict resolution in conjunction with special religious practices common to the community (Ritchie, 2004).
Conclusion
In conclusion the above patterns are used wholesomely to assess the health status of the society. Each pattern focuses on independent characteristics of health which can be monitored individually but cannot be treated dependently since they depend on each other.
References
Daniels, R. (2003). Nursing fundamentals: caring & clinical decision making. Oregon: Cengage Learning.
Edwards, B. ( 2007). Medical-surgical nursing:assessment and management of clinical problems. Australia: Elsevier.
Goldstein, J.A. (2009). Assessing impairment:rom theory to practice. New York: Springer.
Joyce, J.F.P. (2005). ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NURSING RESEARCH. New York: Springer.
Ritchie, C.W. (2004). Handbook of clinical nutrition and aging. England: Humana Press.