Life Span Approach to Health: A Case Study of Mr. Herbert

Introduction
Life span approach to health is an important approach to assess patient and understand
the factors behind health issues based on review of health development from preconception to
old age. The significance of this approach is that it helped to identify other relevant factors
that it can to understand the factors predicting health development and disease over a
lifespan. This assignment will look at a scenario involving Mr Herbert, a 65 year
old man, who is in his chronic age of late adulthood. Firstly the assignment will
introduce the client and explore the health concerns, lifespan and model of
health that can be applied to the client. Following this, the assignment will focus
on the factors that affect Herbert in his health decision making and behaviours,
and the impact of complex social environment, social influences, culture and
inequality on his health. Additional focus will be on psycho-physiological aspects
of health including the relationship between health and emotion, stress and
stress management, and the type of response that are evident in relation to the
client. Finally the assignment will propose relevant interventions that benefit
the client.
Introduction to the client
Herbert is an aging man, who is 65 years of age. He is married and lives with his wife
in the coastal town. He has health issues of chronic hypertension and obesity. At his part-
time, he works as a gardener in his local retirement village and he has personal and financial
struggles. Herbert has reached his chronic age of late adulthood. Late adulthood is generally
considered to begin at about the age of 65 (Cramer, 2017, p.540).
According to the case study, Herbert is not a healthy man. It can be identified that
Herbert has both disease and illness symptoms. Disease is generally defined as an abnormal

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state of the body that is diagnosed by a medical physician or qualified observer (Akhade &
Lakhe, 2016, p. 762). While illness means a health condition that an individual can identify
himself or herself. Illness can be based on mental or physical symptoms (Mouratidi, Bonoti,
and Leondari, 2016, p. 432). It can be determined that Herbert has chronic hypertension
disease and he is overweight meaning when diagnosed he can be having obesity disease.
Moreover, he has mental and physical symptoms, which can be defined as an illness. In
recent time, he is also experiencing problems with vision and most of the time, he finds hard
to perform manual task. He is also experiencing stress illness because of many illness,
financial problem and difficulties in his marriage (Heinze et al. 2015, p.270).
Bio-psychosocial model of health can be applied in the case of Herbert. The bio-
psychosocial model of health is a framework that states that interaction between
psychological, social, and psychological factors determine the cause, manifestation, and
outcome of wellness (Cowley and Collins, 2016, p.371). This can be reflected in the case
study of Herbert, where he experiences all the symptoms recorded in the bio-psychosocial
model of health. Herbert health state is the outcome of the number of reasons. Example,
Herbert has poor lifestyle behaviour such as alcohol consumption, poor diet, and inactivity
(psychological) and he also has physical symptoms hypertension, low immunity system,
obesity and vision problem (physical), which cause difficulties in his marriage and social life
(social) (Babalola, Noel, & White, 2017, p. 293). He also experiences stress and anxiety
because of his financial status, health issues, and difficulties in his marriage (psychological)
(Babalola, Noel, & White, 2017, p. 293).
Factor affecting health decision and behaviour
Complex social environment are the risk factors that are present in a person’s
surroundings that can be detrimental for the health of the individual or society (Roehrle &

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Strouse, 2019, p.1). In the case study, Herbert has two social environments or domains of
influence; these are home and the local hotel. In this case, Herbert, most of the time, spends
playing pokies at the local hotel, and as a consequence, he is vulnerable to many financial
issues. At home, he becomes stress because of his wife as she keeps threatening him to leave
him. In this context, the concept of Locus of control can be discussed which is a degree of
personality psychology in which people believe they have control over every situation that
affects their lives and also blame outside forces for any adverse outcomes (Cobb-Clark,
Kassenboehmer & Sinning, 2016, p. 1). Herbert complaints about everything, and he is
making his own decision, which reflects his internal locus of control attitude.
Also, there are some social influences associated with his health and behaviour. Social
influence refers to how all the external factors alter their behaviour (Taylor & Eckles, 2018,
p. 2). Unhealthy lifestyle, low self-esteem, exclusion, isolation, and on-going stress are the
four social influences in Herbert life that is affecting his health. In this case, Herbert’s poor
financial condition and absence of social contact lead him to social isolation. His low esteem
is characterized by feeling bad about him and a lack of confidence. In Herbert’s life, factors
like alcohol use, lack of physical activity and unhealthy eating contribute to unhealthy
lifestyle. On-going stress is due to his relationship problem with his wife, financial status,
weight problem, and current medical problem. In turns, all these mechanisms lead him to
obesity, altered blood pressure response, decreased immunity and anxiety, that place Herbert
at risk for adverse health and functioning outcomes (Lee & Hanna, 2015 p.139).
Inequality refers to the quality of not being equal like others, which depict the
differences (Gimpelson & Treisman, 2018, p.2). In Herbert case, he faces many health issues,
strength problem, and financial condition unlike other people of his society. In turn, all these
inequality factors are harmful because it puts him in a hierarchy, which reduces social
cohesion; increase competition for status, insecurity, and stress, leading him to poor health

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and other negative outcomes. Culture is a social behaviour found in human societies that
reflects ideas, customs of a particular people or society (Storey, 2018, p.1). Poor lifestyle
behaviour is the cultural influence in Herbert’s life that negatively affects his health. Eating
junk food and drinking alcohol can be seen as a status in some societies (Inglehart, 2018,
p.34). On the case, it can be reflected in the behaviour culture of Herbert, where he changes
his lifestyle of eating junk food and drinking wine. Consequently, all these mechanisms lead
him to obesity, altered blood pressure response and decreased immunity that place Herbert at
risk for adverse health and functioning outcomes (Lee & Hanna, 2015 p. 138).
Psycho-physiological aspects of health
Psychosomatic can be defined as the physical body, which is caused or made worse by
mental factors (Fava, Cosci and Sanino, 2017 p.15). The body symptoms involve both the
mind and the body of the individual. This means the mental health of the individual, such as
anxiety or stress, can affect the physical state of the individual. This can be linked in the case
where Herbert experiences fatigue or challenges in performing the manual task. The
psychosomatic symptoms of uniqueness or tiredness might be caused by psychological
factors like his on-going stress, worry, and emotional upset (Fava, Cosci and Sanino, 2017
p.22).
Stress is a state of emotional or mental strain resulting from demanding and adverse
circumstances (Seaward, 2017, p. 25). There are two types of stressors in Herbert life namely
eustress, which refers to positive stress and distress, which is the term for negative stress. In
the case study, he is experiencing eustress, where he seeks counselling from his friend. He is
experiencing distress due to his health, financial problem, and marriage difficulties. Task
focus approach and emotion focus approach strategies can be identified in Herbert case about
his stress. Task focus approach can be defined as the situation where an individual invests in