title: Lesbians' and bisexual women's definition of health.
abstract: Health is an abstract term used to describe the state of the human body, a mental state or the likelihood of longevity. Throughout history, many definitions have been provided by agencies and healthcare professionals. Although the meaning of health has a long and well-examined history, there remains a gap in the literature surrounding the meaning of health to specific populations of people. The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of the meaning of health from the perspective of lesbians and bisexual women. A content analysis was performed on the definition of health as reported by 189 sexual minority women. The conclusions from this study strongly suggest that health interventions for lesbian and bisexual women focus on what women want to achieve, rather than on what individual behavior should be.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University School of Nursin , Nashvill, Tennessee 37240, USA. sarah.fogel@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Sarah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Fogel
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Calman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Magrini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D003625:Data Collection; D004522:Educational Status; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult