WEEK 4

Assignment Overview:

In this reflective writing assignment, you are asked to examine your own health through the lens of Wolinsky’s multidimensional model, which views health across three key dimensions: medical/physical health, social role functioning, and psychological health. Rather than viewing health as simply “healthy” or “unhealthy,” you’ll explore how health exists on multiple sliding scales simultaneously.

Instructions:

Respond in full to all of the questions below. This paper is divided into four sections. Please be sure to use sub-headings to separate each section. You do not need a cover sheet or references unless you choose to use them. In total your paper should be between 4 pages in length, double-spaced.

Important Note Privacy:

You control what you disclose. You can be general about personal health information while still engaging deeply with the concepts. If discussing sensitive topics feels difficult, you may write about a hypothetical person or someone you know well (with their permission).

Part 1: Assessing Your Three Dimensions (1 page)

For each dimension, provide an honest assessment of where you currently stand:

• Medical /Physical Health Dimension
• Do you have any diagnosed conditions, chronic illnesses, or physical symptoms of disease?
• How would a doctor assess your health based on objective signs?
• Consider: sleep patterns, energy levels, pain, mobility, any medications you take
• Importantly: Remember that having a diagnosis doesn’t automatically mean you’re “unhealthy” in other dimension
• Social Role Functioning Dimension
• How well are you able to fulfill your expected social roles (student, employee, family member, friend, etc.)?
• Are there roles you’re currently unable to perform due to health factors?
• Consider: attendance, productivity, reliability, ability to maintain relationships
• Importantly: This is about functioning in YOUR specific social context, not universal standards
• Psychological Health Dimension
• How would you describe your mental and emotional wellbeing?
• Consider: mood, stress levels, anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, resilience
• How do you perceive your overall health?
• Importantly: This includes both clinical mental health and subjective wellbeing

Part 2: The Sliding Scale Analysis (1 PAGE)

The PowerPoint presentation notes that health might exist on a “sliding scale” rather than as simple on/off switches. For this section:

• Reflect on where you’d place yourself on a scale of 1-10 for each dimension. Explain your reasoning for each rating.
• Discuss how these dimensions connect to each other in your life:
• When one dimension gets worse, do the others suffer too?
• When one dimension improves, do the others improve?
• Which dimension seems to affect the others most strongly?
• Do you notice a chain reaction (like dominoes falling as described by Wilson and Cleary)?

Part 3: Beyond Individual Factors (1-page)

Wilson and Cleary’s model emphasizes that health is shaped by both individual characteristics AND environmental factors. Reflect on:

• Individual characteristics: How do you think your personality, attitudes, values, or genetics influence your health across these dimensions?
• Environmental factors: How do factors like your neighborhood, access to healthcare, social support systems, financial resources, or cultural background shape your health?
• Which factors feel within your control? Which feel beyond your control?
• Critical questions: If so many things that can affect your health are outside your control, is it fair to blame people for being unhealthy? In other words, to what degree are you responsible for your own health and health outcomes?

Part 4: Synthesis and Insights (1 page)

Conclude by addressing:

• How does viewing your health multidimensionally change your understanding of your own wellbeing?
• Before this course, would you have described yourself as “healthy” or “unhealthy”? Has that assessment changed?
• How might this multidimensional perspective change how we think about health inequities in society?
• Does this exercise reveal anything about the danger of approaching health as a moral imperative (as Fitzgerald warned)?