Words about body and soul: social representations relating to health and illness.
The purpose was to examine a sample of Stockholm residents' social representations of their physical and mental health and ill-health. Four open-ended questions were answered by 1240 people between 18-80 years. A thematic analysis revealed nine aspects of health: physical, lifestyle, psychological, social, recreational, work and study, treatment, other and multifactorial aspects. Some cross-cutting themes were described to have an impact on health: empowerment, health-conscious lifestyle, life balance and life perspective. A key result is the interdependence between physical and mental health that was described by the respondents.
Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. pia.asbring@ki.se
Pia
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Åsbring
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; D028681:Moral Obligations; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011788:Quality of Life; D012803:Sick Role; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult