The Concept of Disease

📋 Course Outline

1. Disease and Alarm Signals
2. Causes and Meaning of Disease
3. Caregiver Communication Role
4. Disease Types and Patient Reactions

📖 1. Disease and Alarm Signals

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Disease : an alteration of health expressed through physical, mental, and/or social disruptions and manifested by objective or subjective symptoms.
• Alarm signal : expressed through physical or psychological suffering, difficulty, or maladaptation to a new situation that may be temporary or permanent.

📝 Essential Points

• Any person may experience disease during their lifetime.

💡 Memory Hook

Disease alters health; the alarm signal reveals suffering or difficulty.

📖 2. Causes and Meaning of Disease

📝 Essential Points

📌 Endogenous factors are personal factors such as morphology, genetic heritage, heredity, and immune balance, whereas exogenous factors are environmental factors such as lifestyle rhythm, lifestyle, living environment, climate, pollution, and health policy.

• The six stated etiologies of disease are:
  • infectious
  • hereditary or genetic
  • congenital
  • immunodeficient
  • degenerative
  • iatrogenic