IMPLICATIONS OF HEALTH PROMOTION ON HOLISTIC HEALTH IN INDIA

Abstract

Based on the responses of lay participants, this micro-level qualitative study explores the reasons for the rising health consciousness among the lay populace in urban India. Health promotive behaviour reflects the negotiations of the individuals in fortifying their bodies against health risks prevalent in the modern society. These goals were also compatible with the pursuit of healthy and fit bodies as fashion. Health promotive behaviour is both an end in itself and a means to an end. The paper examines the rationale of the lay persons in actively furthering and improving their health. Further, it investigates implications of such behaviour in creating a demand for holistic health systems. The study illustrates that lay conception of health impacts both the health behaviour and medical choices that guarantee fortification of health and attainment of wellness. The participants admitted that cultivation and preservation of health weighed heavily on their minds. A number of reasons were elicited to explain this phenomenon that included rising incidence of disease and the lack of familial support to the elderly. The lay reasoning provided a deep insights into the range of factors that impinge on health behaviour. The burgeoning definition of health along with commitment to personal responsibility for health, together create a surge for holistic health services for they are compatible with attainment of the goals of wellness. The sociological factors that trigger health promotive behaviour generate debates on medicalization and de-medicalization of everyday life.