This course is designed to enable the student to review basic concepts about health, wellness, and disease. It will also allow the student to examine disparities in illness and death rates in the U. S. Students will gain a basic understanding of health principles and how cultural differences are related to wellness. Topics to be covered include stress and its effect on the individual; drug use and misuse; effective treatment modalities for drug addiction; the role that nutrition and fitness play in maintaining wellness; leading causes of death in America and the causes and treatments for these diseases; and how individuals deal with death, loss, and grief. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:1. define health and wellness as a multidimensional process that involves physical, emotional, social, mental, and spiritual components; 2. identify Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how they relate to health and wellness; 3. explain the General Adaptation Syndrome and how stress affects health and wellness; 4. identify coping strategies/defense mechanisms that people commonly use; 5. define burnout and how it affects health care workers; 6. explain healthy ways health care workers can deal with stressors at the workplace; 7. list the signs of suicide and the role of the health care provider; 8. explain the different drug classifications and how they relate to the medical field; 9. identify the signs and symptoms of drug use/abuse; 10. explain appropriate interventions/treatments that can be provided for someone addicted to drugs; 11. compare and contrast leading causes of death at the beginning of the 1900s and the 21st century; 12. list the major causes and contributing factors to each of the leading causes of death in the 21st century; 13. identify foods that belong to each of the five food groups in the food pyramid; 14. use the six nutrient groups to explain how to plan a healthy diet; and 15. describe the important elements of proper nutrition and fitness's role in health, wellness, and disease prevention.
