Rethinking Health to Explore Directions for Care Practices in Healthcare
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Abstract
This study critically examines the structural issues in modern healthcare systems, where care is often sidelined or overlooked due to the dominance of biomedical approaches. It aims to redefine the concept of health as a foundation for reconstructing care practices. While the biomedical model has contributed to the systematization and scientific refinement of treatment by focusing on disease as a biological phenomenon, it has notable limitations in accounting the contextual complexity of health, including patients’ emotional and social needs. As a result, care is reduced to a fragmented, technology-driven practice, leading to disjointed patient experiences. To address these challenges, this study explores alternative health concepts and care theories to develop models better suited to comprehensive care practices. It proposes viewing health not as a fixed state but as a dynamic and contextual process—one that requires care practices to continuously adapt to and reflect patients’ evolving needs. At its core, care practice in healthcare involves fostering collaborative knowledge creation between patients and healthcare professionals, promoting multidisciplinary collaboration, adopting a relational understanding of autonomy, and importantly, building networks among diverse actors within and beyond healthcare systems. These discussions aim to reestablish care as a central value in healthcare and to make it both sustainable and practical within the constantly evolving healthcare environment.