INTERNAL CAPABILITY 6: EFFECTIVE HEALTH DECISION-MAKING
Making good decisions for health
Overview
Agency 1. Ability to effectively use both knowledge and resources to prevent onset or exacerbation of disease or prevent death
Agency 2. Ability to weigh the short-term and long-term costs and benefits of health behaviors and actions (e.g., smoking)
Agency 3. Ability to identify health problems (e.g., employ guidelines of prevention, recognize signs and symptoms) and pursue effective prevention and treatment
Agency 4. Ability to make healthy choices under various environmental constraints (e.g., abstain from unpotable water, use sunscreen and bed nets)
What is it?
Effective health decision-making is one's own ability to make effective, health-promoting decisions. From a preventative standpoint, this internal capability includes effectively using one's knowledge and resources to prevent morbidity and mortality in the short- and long-term, accurately weighing short-term and long-term health costs and benefits of actions, and making healthy choices even under environmental constraints. From a curative perspective, it includes identifying health problems and pursuing their prevention and treatment.
Why is it important?
As the link between health agency and health functioning, effective health decision-making is important because it ensures that our choices are implemented and actualized into positive health outcomes. Effective health decision-making entails the application and transformation of our knowledge, resources, good judgement, discernment, self-awareness, and rationality to good health.
What does it look like?
Someone with a strong capability in effective health decision-making is able to identify health problems and strategies, utilize knowledge and resources, and pursue effective prevention and treatment of health problems (e.g. knowing the warning signs of breast cancer, identifying a lump in one's breast, seeking medical care to prevent the onset of morbidity and mortality). They would weigh the long-term benefits of regular physical activity against the short-term costs, and continue to make healthy choices
despite environmental constraints (e.g. no gym facility nearby).
How do I do it?
Effective health decision-making can be practiced by building on our health knowledge and applying our self-governance and self-management skills to our health values and goals. Apply your knowledge and resources to address health risks. Think through your behaviors and actions with a lens of health: is it worth it in the long term? What steps do I need to take to feel better? Stay aware of your health status and functioning to quickly identify health problems and implement health strategies. Keep health
as a top priority even in challenging environments.
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