Installment 5: Health Engagement

Health engagement fulfills a very therapeutic and purposeful role in our lives. It begins when we realize that in order to be well, we need to be interested in our own well-being. It continues when we put that into practice in the course of our daily lives – living in the present and making the best health decisions we can based upon current circumstances. This keeps us continually involved, and therefore, engaged.

That said it is important to remember that being involved and engaged does not always equate to successfully achieving goals. For example, I have been involved in a diabetes support group for the last eight years. Most of my patients there are overweight, but fit. They exercise regularly, eat well most of the time and pay attention to their health. So, despite the fact that they are not always ideal in their weight or metabolic control, they remain engaged and involved.

They, like all of us, will experience fluctuations in their level of motivation. It may be attributable to family, community, work, faith, psychological well-being or illness. Whatever the case, what’s important is that even when they slip along the way, they remain persistent, because they are involved and engaged. They continue on the path to well-being, which is infinitely better than not being on that journey at all.

Today other factors are influencing patient care. Digital platforms and social media are becoming so accessible and pervasive that they are impacting behavior more and more. Information sharing among various online communities is providing greater perspective and insight than ever before.

The abundance of information available can become an issue itself, sometimes making it harder to figure out what to pay attention to and what options are best suited for an individual patient. This is when personal health engagement can play a critical role in helping the patient to better understand what works for him/her under the existing circumstances. It might not be what works for others, but what is needed to satisfy their needs at that point in time.

In the end, as healthcare professionals we have to respect all the variables that may impact one’s health engagement. This requires that we work with each patient on his own terms and in accordance with his/her own readiness for behavior change. If we do this, we can create a relationship that allows our patients to overcome obstacles and continue on their path to well-being.

What does it mean to you to be involved in one’s own health?

As a conclusion to this series on Personal Health Engagement, I’d like to leave you with this thought from Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Barbara