Iris van de Velde is a lecturer-researcher at the Healthy Region research group. Her interests lie mainly in Positive Health, prevention and health promotion. She talks about her own experiences with Positive Health and shares tips for colleagues and managers on how to get started with Positive Health themselves.
Positive health
Positive Health is a broad view of health. It looks at the total picture of your physical, mental and social health. This differs from the traditional health model, which focuses on the disease rather than the person. According to Iris, the emphasis is on people's resilience and how they can tackle this themselves. ‘How can we empower people?’ she says. ‘How can people take control of their own health?’
- Feeling healthy
- Fitness
- No complaints or pain
- Sleep
- Eating
- Sexuality
- Physical condition
- Exercise
- Memory
- Concentration
- Communication
- Being cheerful
- Accepting yourself
- Dealing with change
- Sense of control
- Meaningful life
- Zest for life
- Wanting to achieve ideals
- Having confidence
- Acceptance
- Gratitude
- Continuing to learn
- Enjoyment
- Happiness
- Feeling good about yourself
- Balance
- Feeling safe
- Intimacy
- How you live
- Making ends meet
- Social contacts
- Being taken seriously
- Doing fun things together
- Support from others
- Belonging
- Doing meaningful things
- Interest in society
- Taking care of yourself
- Knowing your limits
- Health awareness
- Managing time
- Managing money
- Being able to work
- Being able to ask for help
These dimensions are interconnected like a spider's web, which is how they are often visualised. To check how your own health is doing, you can fill in the questionnaire on the MijnPositieveGezondheid website. ‘It's very accessible,’ explains Iris. ‘The questions really reflect your own experiences.’ You complete the questionnaire by answering simple questions, and the results are displayed in a spider web of the six dimensions. You may score high on some dimensions and lower on others. This allows you to determine for yourself where you could start to improve your health.
Education and research
Iris came into contact with this philosophy when she taught nursing at HZ University of Applied Sciences. ‘We also pass this on to our students,’ says Iris. ‘Health is much more than just the absence of illness.’ Students learn to focus more on prevention in order to improve health and prevent illness. Within the Healthy Region research group, complex issues are also examined from the perspective of Positive Health. As HZ University of Applied Sciences' first professional doctorate candidate, Iris conducts practice-oriented research at the intersection of tourism and health.
How can we empower people? How can people take control of their own health?
Start the conversation
A fun and challenging job, a busy and enjoyable private life: sometimes it's difficult to keep all the balls in the air. Iris has experienced this herself. She has three young children and when she returned to work after her last maternity leave, it was quite difficult. When people have experienced a major event or have been absent for a while and then return to work, this transition can be quite overwhelming. As a manager, it is important to be aware of this and to talk to your employee. ‘Care and attention are so important at times like these,’ says Iris. ‘Positive Health is a great framework to use during these conversations.’
As a manager, you could simply ask your employee how they are doing. How are you feeling? Physically? Mentally? Did you wake up feeling positive this morning? Are you looking forward to the working day? ‘Conversations between a manager and an employee are often quite substantive,’ says Iris. ‘It would make such a difference if there were a balance between content and the employee's well-being during such a conversation.’ These are simple questions, but they do have an impact.
Take control
Would you like to start working with Positive Health as an employee? Then start by completing the questionnaire on the MijnPositieveGezondheid website. This will give you more insight into your own health and allow you to decide for yourself what you would like to work on. According to Iris, it is important to realise that the results of the questionnaire are a snapshot. If you are having a bad day, this will be reflected in the results. Use the questionnaire and the results as a starting point to work on your health.
Healthy Region
The Healthy Region research group investigates the relationship between healthy behavior of citizens and tourists in relation to environmental factors in Zeeland.
More information about this research group