The conceptualisation of health and disease in veterinary medicine.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
The concept of health, as well as the concept of disease, is central in veterinary medicine. However, the definitions "health" and "disease" are not generally acknowledged by veterinarians. The aim of this study was to examine how the concepts "health" and "disease" are defined in veterinary textbooks.

METHODS:
Veterinary textbooks in several disciplines were investigated, but only textbooks with explicit definitions of the concepts were selected for examination.

RESULTS:
Eighty out of the 500 relevant books within veterinary medicine were written for non-veterinarians. Eight percent of the books had an explicit definition of health and/or disease. More frequently, textbooks written for non veterinarians did have definitions of health or disease, compared to textbooks written for professionals. A division of health definitions in five different categories was suggested, namely:
1. Health as normality, 2. Health as biological function, 3. Health as homeostasis, 4. Health as physical and psychological well-being and 5. Health as productivity including reproduction.

CONCLUSION:
Few veterinary textbooks had any health or disease definition at all. Furthermore, explicit definitions of health stated by the authors seemed to have little impact on how health and disease are handled within the profession. Veterinary medicine would probably gain from theoretical discussions about health and disease.

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Author information

Author/s: Gunnarsson, Stefan (S);

Affiliation: Section of Animal Hygiene, Department of Animal Environment and Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Skara, Sweden. stefan.gunnarsson@hmh.slu.se

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Acta veterinaria Scandinavica (Acta Vet Scand), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-; vol 47 (issue ) : pp 71

Dates: Created 2006/11/13; Completed 2007/01/01; Revised 2008/07/07;

PMID: 17090301, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Disease
Health
Terminology as Topic

Terminology as Topic
Textbooks as Topic
Veterinary Medicine

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