Introduction: What Is the Health Continuum?

When most people think about health, they imagine a simple binary: you are either sick or you are not. In reality, human health is far more nuanced — it exists on a spectrum that stretches from optimal wellness at one end to severe illness and premature death at the other. This spectrum is known as the health continuum, and understanding it can fundamentally change how you approach your own wellbeing.

The health continuum, sometimes called the illness-wellness continuum or the health-illness continuum, is not merely an academic concept. It is a practical, evidence-based framework that healthcare professionals, educators, employers, and individuals use to understand where they stand on the spectrum of health — and, more importantly, what they can do to move toward greater wellness.

Key Takeaway: A spectrum that represents the varying levels of health, spanning from optimal wellness to illness, is known as the health continuum. This is one of the most frequently tested concepts in health education and is foundational to modern wellness theory.

This comprehensive guide explores every dimension of the health continuum, including its origins, its component models, how it applies across the multiple dimensions of health, and why it matters for real people solving real problems — whether they are students preparing for exams, patients managing chronic conditions, or employers designing workplace wellness programs.

Defining the Health Continuum

The Core Concept

The health continuum is defined as a dynamic spectrum that represents the varying levels of health an individual can experience at any given point in time. It spans from a state of optimal wellness — characterized by peak physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual functioning — all the way to premature death at the opposite extreme.

The most important insight embedded in this model is that health is not static. Individuals do not simply occupy a fixed point on this spectrum; rather, they move along it constantly in response to behaviors, environments, genetics, relationships, stressors, and access to healthcare. A person can be in excellent cardiovascular health but struggling with mental health challenges. Another person may have a chronic illness but still achieve a high quality of life through effective self-management.

The Illness-Wellness Continuum: Origins and History

The illness-wellness continuum was first conceptualized by Dr. John W. Travis, an American physician who developed the model in 1972 during his residency in preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Travis was dissatisfied with the prevailing medical paradigm, which measured health primarily by the absence of disease. He believed this approach left a vast middle ground unaddressed — the space where people are not technically sick, yet are far from thriving.

Travis formalized his model in 1975 with the publication of The Wellness Inventory, and in the same year he founded the Wellness Resource Center in Mill Valley, California — one of the first wellness centers of its kind in the United States. His framework became the foundation of the modern wellness movement and continues to influence healthcare, public health policy, and health education worldwide.

Around the same time, Halbert Dunn, a biostatistician and public health official, had been developing complementary ideas. In 1959, Dunn introduced the concept of ‘High-Level Wellness,’ which he described as an integrated method of functioning oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable. Dunn’s work anticipated Travis’s continuum and provided a philosophical foundation for measuring wellness beyond mere clinical metrics.

The Neutral Point: Where Medicine Traditionally Stopped

At the center of the continuum lies what Travis called the neutral point — the absence of disease, but not the presence of true wellness. Traditional Western medicine focused primarily on moving people from the illness side of the spectrum back to this neutral midpoint. The paradigm was essentially: identify disease, treat disease, restore function.

The Wellness Paradigm (Travis, 1972): True health is not merely the absence of illness. It is the active pursuit of higher levels of functioning across all dimensions of human experience.

The health continuum framework argues that this approach, while essential, is insufficient. Moving someone from a sick state back to neutral is important, but it leaves untapped the entire upper half of the spectrum — the journey from neutral toward optimal wellness. This is the domain of preventive health, lifestyle medicine, wellness education, and quality of life improvement.

The Structure of the Health Continuum

Visual Overview of the Spectrum

The health continuum can be visualized as a horizontal line with two poles and a critical midpoint:

Stage on Continuum	Characteristics	Healthcare Focus
Premature Death	Severe organ failure, terminal conditions, complete loss of function	Emergency/End-of-life care
Disability	Significant loss of functional capacity; may be physical or mental	Rehabilitation, palliative care
Symptoms	Noticeable signs of disease or dysfunction; person aware of being unwell	Diagnosis and treatment
Signs	Measurable clinical indicators; person may feel normal yet be at risk	Screening and monitoring
Neutral Point (0)	No detectable illness; baseline health; traditional ‘healthy’ label	Maintenance; check-ups
Awareness	Growing health literacy; lifestyle reflection; beginning of active wellness	Health education
Education	Active acquisition of health knowledge; behavior modification begins	Coaching and counseling
Growth	Sustained positive health behaviors; improving function across dimensions	Wellness programs
High-Level Wellness	Peak functioning across all dimensions; sense of purpose and vitality	Optimization and prevention
Optimal Health	Maximum integration of body, mind, spirit; full realization of potential	Positive health promotion

Movement Along the Continuum Is Bidirectional

One of the most clinically and practically significant features of the health continuum is that movement along it is bidirectional. Health is not a destination but a process. Factors that can move a person toward illness include:

• Sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition
• Chronic psychological stress and social isolation
• Exposure to environmental toxins or occupational hazards
• Untreated mental health conditions
• Genetic predispositions activated by lifestyle factors
• Inadequate access to healthcare or health information
• Substance use, sleep deprivation, and high-risk behaviors

Conversely, factors that move a person toward optimal wellness include:

• Regular physical activity and balanced nutrition
• Strong social connections and community engagement
• Stress management practices (mindfulness, meditation, yoga)
• Access to preventive healthcare and health literacy
• Purposeful living and spiritual or existential fulfillment
• Regular medical screenings and early intervention
• Safe, supportive living and working environments

The Dimensions of Health and Wellness

A critical extension of the health continuum concept is the recognition that health is multidimensional. The health continuum does not operate on a single axis — it operates simultaneously across multiple dimensions of health. An individual can be at a high level of wellness in one dimension and struggling in another.

The Seven Dimensions of Health

Dimension	Definition	Example Indicators
Physical	The condition of the body — fitness, nutrition, sleep, medical care	BMI, blood pressure, exercise frequency
Mental/Intellectual	Cognitive functioning, learning, critical thinking, creativity	Problem-solving ability, mental engagement
Emotional	Ability to recognize, process, and express feelings in healthy ways	Emotional regulation, resilience, self-esteem
Social	Quality of relationships, communication, and community participation	Social support network, interpersonal skills
Spiritual	Sense of purpose, meaning, values, and connection beyond oneself	Life satisfaction, ethical clarity, inner peace
Environmental	The health of the external environment and one’s relationship with it	Air/water quality, safe housing, green spaces
Occupational	Satisfaction, fulfillment, and balance in one’s work life	Job satisfaction, work-life balance, career growth

The National Wellness Institute (NWI) popularized a six-dimension model that includes physical, emotional, social, intellectual, occupational, and spiritual wellness. Some frameworks add environmental, financial, or creative dimensions. What all these models share is the principle that true optimal health — the highest point on the health continuum — requires balance and progress across all relevant dimensions simultaneously.

Quality of Life vs. the Health Continuum

Quality of life (QoL) is a related but distinct concept. While the health continuum describes the spectrum of health states, quality of life measures the subjective experience of those states — how an individual perceives and values their own physical, emotional, social, and functional wellbeing. A person with a serious chronic illness may have a lower position on the clinical health continuum, yet report a high quality of life due to strong social support, spiritual fulfillment, and effective symptom management.

Conversely, a person who is objectively healthy by all clinical measures may report poor quality of life due to loneliness, purposelessness, or occupational dissatisfaction. This distinction highlights why the health continuum must always be evaluated alongside quality of life indicators rather than purely biomedical data.

Span of Life vs. Quality of Life

Another concept often confused with the health continuum is span of life — the total duration of a person’s life. Advances in medicine have dramatically extended average lifespans: global life expectancy has risen from approximately 47 years in 1950 to over 73 years in 2025. However, additional years of life do not automatically translate into years of wellness. The concept of health span — the period of life spent in good health and functional capacity — is now considered equally or more important than lifespan alone.

Statistics: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.7 billion people worldwide live with a chronic health condition. The WHO also estimates that 70% of all deaths globally are attributable to noncommunicable diseases, most of which are preventable through lifestyle changes aligned with the wellness end of the health continuum.

Related Theoretical Models

The Health Belief Model

The Health Belief Model is a psychological framework developed in the 1950s by social psychologists at the U.S. Public Health Service. It explains health-related behaviors by examining individuals’ perceptions of the threat of illness and the benefits of taking preventive action. Key constructs include perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. The Health Belief Model complements the health continuum by explaining why individuals at various points on the spectrum do or do not take action to improve their health.

The Agent-Host-Environment Model (Epidemiological Triangle)

The Agent-Host-Environment Model, also known as the Epidemiological Triangle, examines disease causation through three interacting components: the agent (infectious, chemical, or physical cause of disease), the host (the person susceptible to the disease), and the environment (external factors that support or inhibit disease transmission). This model is particularly useful for understanding communicable diseases and how population-level interventions can push communities from the illness side of the continuum toward the wellness side.

Dunn’s High-Level Wellness Model

Halbert Dunn’s 1959 model positioned wellness not as a static state but as an active, forward-moving process. He used the phrase ‘high-level wellness’ to describe a dynamic state of health in which an individual progresses toward a higher potential of functioning. Dunn distinguished between four quadrants created by intersecting axes of wellness level (low to high) and environment quality (favorable to unfavorable):

• High Wellness + Favorable Environment = Thriving (Optimal Health)
• High Wellness + Unfavorable Environment = Emergent Wellness (resilience under adversity)
• Low Wellness + Favorable Environment = Protected ill health (sustained by external support)
• Low Wellness + Unfavorable Environment = Poor health (illness and environmental deprivation)

Suchman’s Stages of Illness

Edward Suchman’s model describes the behavioral progression an individual goes through when experiencing illness, providing a complementary lens to the health continuum’s structural description. The five stages are: (1) symptom experience, (2) assumption of the sick role, (3) medical care contact, (4) dependent patient role, and (5) recovery or rehabilitation. Understanding these stages helps clinicians and educators appreciate that position on the health continuum is not just physiological — it is also a social and behavioral process.

Modern Wellness Frameworks

Contemporary scholars have refined these foundational models significantly. Eriksson et al. (2024) published a comprehensive definition of wellness as a holistic, multidimensional continuum integrating subjective experience, objective health indicators, and social determinants. The Kauppi Wellness Consensus Model synthesizes multiple traditions into an integrative framework. Myers, Sweeney and Witmer (2000) proposed the Wheel of Wellness model, which places spirituality at the center of wellbeing and radiates outward through 12 life tasks including love, work, and friendship.

Applications of the Health Continuum

Clinical Practice and Nursing

In clinical settings, the health continuum provides nurses and physicians with a holistic assessment framework. Rather than evaluating a patient only by their presenting symptoms or diagnosis, practitioners can assess the patient’s position across all dimensions of health and design individualized care plans that address the full spectrum. Discharge planning, in particular, benefits from a continuum-based approach: rather than simply stabilizing a patient and sending them home at the neutral point, clinicians can identify interventions that will continue to move the patient toward greater wellness after discharge.

The health continuum is also central to preventive care strategies. Three levels of prevention correspond to different zones of the continuum:

Level of Prevention	Position on Continuum	Goal	Examples
Primary Prevention	Wellness side / neutral point	Prevent disease before it occurs	Vaccinations, health education, exercise programs, nutrition counseling
Secondary Prevention	Early illness / signs and symptoms	Early detection and prompt treatment	Screenings (mammograms, colonoscopies), blood pressure monitoring
Tertiary Prevention	Established illness / disability	Reduce disability; improve quality of life	Cardiac rehabilitation, diabetes management, physical therapy

Health Education and Schools

The health continuum is a cornerstone concept in health education curricula at the secondary and post-secondary levels. It appears frequently in standardized tests, curricula, and textbooks because it provides a conceptual anchor for the entire field of health education. Students who understand the health continuum are better equipped to understand why lifestyle behaviors matter, how chronic illness develops over time, and what optimal wellness looks, feels, and functions like.

Health educators use the continuum to help students recognize that health is not a fixed trait — it is a variable state that they have significant power to influence through their daily choices. This empowerment framework is linked to improved health outcomes and greater health literacy among young people.

Workplace Wellness Programs

Employers and occupational health professionals apply the health continuum to design and evaluate workplace wellness programs. A continuum-informed program does not simply offer flu shots and gym discounts (which address only the lower half of the spectrum). It also offers mental health support, stress management resources, purposeful work design, and community-building initiatives that address the full range from illness prevention to optimal wellness.

Research Finding: Organizations with comprehensive wellness programs report up to 28% reduction in sick leave and a return of $3.27 for every $1 invested in employee wellness (Harvard School of Public Health, 2010). These results are consistent with a full-spectrum, continuum-based approach to workplace health.

Public Health and Community Health

At the population level, the health continuum informs public health strategies that go beyond disease control to encompass community wellbeing. Policies that improve housing quality, increase access to green spaces, reduce food deserts, and strengthen social safety nets all operate on the principle that health is a spectrum — and that environmental, social, and economic conditions determine where communities collectively fall on that spectrum.

Health Risk Assessments (HRAs), which were used in clinical settings before the continuum was formally described, are now recognized as instruments for identifying individuals’ positions on the spectrum and targeting interventions accordingly. HRAs measure factors including smoking status, physical activity level, dietary patterns, stress levels, and preventive care utilization — all of which map directly onto the health continuum framework.

Chronic Illness and the Health Continuum

One of the most clinically important insights the health continuum offers is that having a chronic illness does not automatically place a person at the low end of the spectrum. Chronic conditions — defined by the CDC as conditions lasting one year or more that require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living — affect approximately 60% of American adults.

However, people with chronic conditions can still occupy positions toward the wellness end of the continuum by achieving maximum functional capacity, maintaining a high quality of life, managing their condition effectively, and nurturing social, emotional, and spiritual health. This is a profoundly empowering message that contradicts the fatalistic view that illness is simply a state to be endured.

Technical Terms Glossary

The following table defines the key technical terms used throughout the health continuum literature:

Technical Term	Definition
Health Continuum	The spectrum from optimal wellness to premature death representing all possible health states
Illness-Wellness Continuum	Dr. Travis’s 1972 model illustrating the bidirectional spectrum of health
Neutral Point	The midpoint of the continuum; absence of detectable illness but no active wellness
Optimal Health	A state of excellence across all dimensions of wellness; highest level on the spectrum
High-Level Wellness	Dunn’s 1959 concept: functioning at maximum potential in a favorable environment
Health Belief Model	Psychological model explaining health behaviors through perception of threat and benefit
Agent-Host-Environment Model	Epidemiological triangle examining disease through the interaction of three components
Primary Prevention	Measures to prevent disease before onset; wellness side of continuum
Secondary Prevention	Early detection and treatment to halt disease progression
Tertiary Prevention	Management of established illness to restore function and quality of life
Holistic Health	Whole-person approach integrating physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions
Quality of Life (QoL)	Subjective assessment of one’s overall wellbeing and satisfaction with life
Health Span	The portion of a person’s lifespan spent in good health and functional capacity
Wellness Paradigm	The alternative healthcare framework emphasizing proactive wellness over reactive disease treatment
Health Risk Assessment (HRA)	Clinical tool measuring health risk factors to determine position on the health continuum
Exacerbation	Temporary worsening of a chronic condition; movement toward the illness side
Wellness Inventory	Dr. Travis’s 1975 publication formally defining and measuring the wellness continuum
Pathologic Change	A structural or functional abnormality in the body that defines disease
Suchman’s Stages of Illness	A five-stage behavioral model describing the social process of experiencing illness
NWI’s Six Dimensions	National Wellness Institute’s six-domain framework: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, occupational, spiritual

Notable Entities in Health Continuum Research

Pioneers and Scholars

• John W. Travis (b. 1943): Developed the Illness-Wellness Continuum (1972) at Johns Hopkins; founded the Wellness Resource Center (1975, Mill Valley, CA); authored The Wellness Inventory. Considered the founding figure of the modern wellness movement.
• Halbert Dunn (1896-1975): Introduced High-Level Wellness (1959); former Chief of the National Office of Vital Statistics; provided the philosophical foundation for the wellness movement.
• Myers, Sweeney, and Witmer (2000): Proposed the Wheel of Wellness, an integrative model placing spirituality at the center of wellness across 12 life tasks.
• Eriksson et al. (2024): Published a modern consensus definition of wellness as a holistic, multidimensional health continuum.
• Kauppi: Developed the Wellness Consensus Model, a contemporary synthesis of wellness frameworks.

Institutions and Organizations

• Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD): Where Dr. Travis developed the continuum during his preventive medicine residency.
• National Wellness Institute (NWI): Developed and popularized the six-dimension wellness model; provides training and certification in wellness.
• World Health Organization (WHO): Defined health in 1948 as ‘a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease’ — a definition entirely consistent with the health continuum framework.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Reports chronic disease statistics and funds preventive health initiatives aligned with continuum-based public health strategies.
• Wellness Resource Center (Mill Valley, CA): Founded by Travis in 1975; one of the first wellness centers built explicitly on continuum principles.

Key Publications

• The Wellness Inventory (Travis, 1975): The foundational text formalizing the illness-wellness continuum.
• Wellness Workbook (Travis & Ryan, 1981): Made the continuum concept accessible to general audiences.
• High-Level Wellness (Dunn, 1961): Book expanding on Dunn’s 1959 wellness concept.
• Journal of Wellness (various): Peer-reviewed research on wellness across the continuum.

Problems Addressed by Understanding the Health Continuum

The health continuum concept directly addresses a wide range of challenges that real people and institutions face:

For Students

The most immediate use case for this content is academic: students in health education, nursing, kinesiology, and related fields frequently encounter health continuum questions on quizzes, standardized tests, and licensure exams. The correct answer to the question — ‘A spectrum representing varying levels of health from optimal wellness to illness is known as…’ — is the health continuum. Related distractor terms include dimensions of health, quality of life, and span of life.

Answer Choice	Is It Correct?	Why / Why Not
Health Continuum	YES — Correct Answer	Precisely describes the spectrum of health states from wellness to illness
Dimensions of Health	No	Refers to the categories (physical, mental, social, etc.), not the spectrum itself
Quality of Life	No	Refers to subjective satisfaction with health states, not the spectrum of states
Span of Life	No	Refers to the duration of life (longevity), not the health quality spectrum

For Individuals Managing Their Health

Many people feel ‘not sick but not well’ — they occupy that frustrating neutral zone where no diagnosis explains their fatigue, low energy, or dissatisfaction with life. The health continuum gives these individuals a framework to understand their experience and, crucially, a direction to move in. They are not broken; they are simply not yet optimally well, and there are evidence-based steps they can take to move toward greater wellness.

For Clinicians and Healthcare Providers

The health continuum addresses the professional challenge of reducing illness readmission rates. When discharge planning focuses only on returning the patient to the neutral point rather than building momentum toward wellness, patients are more likely to relapse. Continuum-based care plans include lifestyle interventions, social support referrals, mental health resources, and preventive follow-up — all of which reduce long-term healthcare costs and improve outcomes.

For Employers and HR Professionals

Organizations seeking to reduce absenteeism, improve productivity, and lower healthcare costs find the health continuum model valuable for designing wellness programs that go beyond reactive healthcare coverage to encompass proactive wellness promotion across all dimensions of employee health.

For Public Health Officials and Policymakers

Population health is fundamentally a question of where communities fall on the health continuum. Officials who understand the model can design upstream interventions — addressing housing, nutrition, education, and environmental quality — that shift entire populations toward greater wellness rather than simply treating disease after it occurs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: What is the spectrum that represents varying levels of health from optimal wellness to illness called?

The correct term is the health continuum, also known as the illness-wellness continuum or the health-illness continuum. It describes the dynamic spectrum of health states from optimal wellness (the highest level of functioning across all dimensions) through a neutral midpoint (absence of disease) to severe illness and premature death. This is a commonly tested concept in health education.

Q2: Who created the Illness-Wellness Continuum and when?

The Illness-Wellness Continuum was developed by Dr. John W. Travis in 1972 during his preventive medicine residency at Johns Hopkins University. He formally published it in 1975 through The Wellness Inventory. Halbert Dunn had earlier (1959) developed the concept of High-Level Wellness, which provided philosophical groundwork for Travis’s model.

Q3: What is optimal health on the health continuum?

Optimal health refers to a state of excellence across all dimensions of wellness — physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental. It is the highest attainable point on the health continuum, characterized by maximum functional capacity, a deep sense of purpose and meaning, strong social connections, and the absence of preventable illness.

Q4: What is the neutral point on the health continuum?

The neutral point is the midpoint of the continuum where an individual has no diagnosable illness or disease but is also not actively pursuing or experiencing positive wellness. It represents the baseline that traditional Western medicine historically aimed to restore patients to. Travis and others argued that stopping at the neutral point was insufficient — genuine health requires moving beyond it toward active wellness.

Q5: Can a person with a chronic illness still be healthy on the health continuum?

Yes. Chronic illness places a person in a more challenging position on the physical dimension of the continuum, but optimal functioning — and even high-level wellness — is still achievable. A person with diabetes who manages their condition effectively, maintains a strong social network, has a sense of purpose, and exercises regularly may occupy a high wellness position across the other dimensions of the continuum. Health is multidimensional, and no single condition defines a person’s entire health status.

Q6: What is the difference between health continuum, quality of life, and span of life?

These are related but distinct concepts. The health continuum is the structural spectrum of health states from illness to optimal wellness. Quality of life (QoL) is the subjective experience of those states — how a person perceives and values their own health and wellbeing. Span of life refers to the duration of a person’s life (longevity). A person can have a long life span but poor quality of life, or a shorter life with high quality. Health span — the period of life spent in good health — is the concept that bridges all three.

Q7: What are the dimensions of health, and how do they relate to the continuum?

The dimensions of health are the categories across which wellness is measured: physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, environmental, and occupational. The health continuum applies to each dimension simultaneously. An individual has a position on the continuum for each dimension, and true optimal wellness requires progress toward the wellness end across all of them. This multidimensional structure is what distinguishes holistic health from purely biomedical health.

Q8: What factors cause movement toward illness on the health continuum?

Movement toward the illness end of the continuum is caused by a combination of behavioral, environmental, genetic, and social factors. These include poor nutrition and physical inactivity, chronic stress, substance abuse, social isolation, environmental toxins, inadequate sleep, lack of preventive healthcare, low health literacy, and socioeconomic disadvantage. Many of these factors are modifiable through individual choices and public health interventions.

Q9: What are the three levels of prevention, and where do they fall on the continuum?

Primary prevention targets the wellness side and neutral point of the continuum — it aims to prevent disease before it develops through vaccination, health education, and lifestyle promotion. Secondary prevention operates at the early illness end — it focuses on early detection through screenings and prompt treatment to halt disease progression. Tertiary prevention applies to established illness and disability — it seeks to restore function, prevent complications, and improve quality of life for people with chronic conditions.

Q10: How is the health continuum used in nursing and clinical practice?

In nursing and clinical medicine, the health continuum guides holistic patient assessment and care planning. Nurses use the framework to evaluate patients not just on their clinical diagnosis but across all dimensions of health. It informs discharge planning (ensuring patients leave with resources to continue moving toward wellness, not just return to neutral), preventive care recommendations, mental health referrals, and chronic disease management strategies. It is also taught in nursing education as a foundational conceptual framework.

Conclusion

The health continuum is one of the most important and enduring concepts in the field of health science. Born from Dr. John Travis’s dissatisfaction with a medical system that measured health merely by the absence of disease, the illness-wellness continuum gave the world a richer, more empowering way to think about what it means to be well.

At its core, the health continuum teaches us that health is not a destination — it is a dynamic spectrum, a process, a direction of travel. Every individual occupies a position on this spectrum at any given moment, influenced by biological, behavioral, social, environmental, and spiritual factors across multiple dimensions of health. And every individual has the capacity to move along that spectrum — toward greater wellness, higher functioning, and a richer quality of life.

For students, understanding the health continuum means mastering a conceptual cornerstone that underlies all of health education. For clinicians, it means providing care that extends beyond treating illness to actively promoting wellness. For public health officials, it means designing interventions that address the root causes of poor health, not just its consequences. And for individuals, it means recognizing that wherever you are on the spectrum today, there is always a direction you can move — and always something you can do to get there.

Final Takeaway: A spectrum that represents the varying levels of health, spanning from optimal wellness to illness, is known as the health continuum. This concept, pioneered by Dr. John Travis in 1972 and built on Halbert Dunn’s foundational work, remains the most comprehensive and actionable framework for understanding, measuring, and improving human health.

References

• Travis, J. W. (1975). Wellness inventory. Wellness Associates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Travis_(physician)
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• World Health Organization. (1948). Constitution of the World Health Organization. WHO. https://www.who.int/about/governance/constitution
• Myers, J. E., Sweeney, T. J., & Witmer, J. M. (2000). The wheel of wellness counseling for wellness: A holistic model for treatment planning. Journal of Counseling & Development, 78(3), 251-266. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2000.tb01906.x
• Eriksson, M., et al. (2024). Defining wellness: A consensus model. Journal of Wellness, 6(1), 1-14. https://internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/download/2619/112
• National Wellness Institute. (2023). The six dimensions of wellness. NWI. https://nationalwellness.org/resources/six-dimensions-of-wellness/
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Chronic diseases in America. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/chronic-diseases.htm
• Baicker, K., Cutler, D., & Song, Z. (2010). Workplace wellness programs can generate savings. Health Affairs, 29(2), 304-311. https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0626
• Suchman, E. A. (1965). Stages of illness and medical care. Journal of Health and Human Behavior, 6(3), 114-128. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5830433/
• Pender, N. J., Murdaugh, C. L., & Parsons, M. A. (2015). Health promotion in nursing practice (7th ed.). Pearson. https://www.pearson.com/en-us/subject-catalog/p/health-promotion-in-nursing-practice/P200000001349