Nurses can focus on modifying economic, political, and environmental factors that have been shown to be the precursors of poor health throughout the world. Educational, practice, and research approaches that address the concept of environment in nursing emanate from these theories. There is great diversity of definitions of health in nursing. There are appropriate times for the use of each of these modes. The health-care needs of the client preclude the possibility of focusing only on one level of meaning.
Health is a personal commitment, but it is also a social commitment.
There are some groups of individuals who cannot master and control their bodies' well-being because their environments are oppressive or because they have no choices, or because they have never had the opportunity to think of their optimum capacity. For many individuals health cannot be separated from that of their parents, children, extended family, neighbors, and friends. Individualism is not the norm for these people and consequently, their isolated experiences are not meaningful nor are they representative of the core of health for them. Access to health care is another aspect of health that needs consideration. Definitions of health are bound by access to health care and how options for health care are perceived.