MODULE 1: THE CONCEPTS AND CHARACTERISTICS

OF MAN AND HIS BASIC NEEDS

This module is designed to help midwifery students to understand that the concept of
man is an important component of midwifery practice. Assessing and planning health care of
the client is enhanced when the midwife understands the concepts of man, environment,
needs and rights of man.

LESSON 1: The Concepts and Characteristics of Man

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you should have:
1. Discussed the concepts and characteristics of man;
2. Determined the basic needs of man; and
3. Identified Concepts of Man and Health According to Theorist

The concept of man forms the first foundational component of Midwifery. To provide
an individualized, holistic, and quality care, it is important to understand man. This lesson
allows you to know the concepts, characteristics, the basic needs of man and the concepts of
man and health according to the different theorists.

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 MAN
- It is an individual human.
- A man belonging to a particular category (as by birth, residence, membership, or
occupation).
- A bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens) that is anatomically related to the great
apes but distinguished especially by notable development of the brain with a resultant
capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning, is usually considered to form a
variable number of freely interbreeding races, and is the sole living representative of
the hominid family.

CONCEPT OF INDIVIDUALITY
- Each individual is a unique being who is different from every other human being,
with a different combination of genetics, life experiences, and environmental
interactions.
- When providing care, we need to focus on the client within both a total care and
individualized care content.

4 MAJOR ATTRIBUTES OF HUMAN BEING

1. Capacity to think or conceptualize on the abstract level.

2. Family Formation
3. Tendency to seek and maintain a territory
4. Ability to use verbal symbols as language, a means of developing and maintaining
culture.

2 APPROACHES IN STUDYING MAN

1. ATOMISTIC APPROACH
 Viewing man as an organism only (view cells, tissues, organs – body structures only)
 Ex. Taking blood pressure of the patient.
2. HOLISTIC APPROACH
 Viewing man as an organism with interrelated and interdependent parts functioning to
produce a behavior which is acceptable or unacceptable to him or to the society.
 Ex. Midwife interaction with the patient.
3. HOLISTIC THEORY
 States that all living organisms are interacting unified whole that are more than the mere
sum of his parts. In this light, any disturbance affects the whole being.
 Ex. When the midwife asses a patient, he or she must keep the whole person in mind.
When assessing a certain body part, it must be related to other parts. The midwife must
also consider how the patient interacts with the external environment and how they relate
with others.
 Human life must be balanced and harmonized with the other forms of nature. Disturbance
may result in illness.
 Involves whole person’s being and the overall quality of his or her lifestyle.
HOLISTIC HEALTH CARE
1. Health Education
2. Health Maintenance
3. Health Promotion
4. Illness Prevention
5. Restorative and Rehabilitative Care

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* The identification needs, planning, implementation, and evaluation require sensitivity to the
individual, family, environment, and cultural values.

CONCEPTS OF MAN
1. MAN AS A BIO-PSYCHO-SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL BEING.
a. Biologic-Physical-Physiologic Being
 Man is a living organism composed of cells, tissues, organs and systems.
 Man’s body has physiologic needs in order to survive and maintain health. These
needs include food and oxygen, sleep and rest.
b. Psychological-Intellectual being

 Man is a rational being, capable of learning, thinking and reasoning; only man can tin
and reason.
 The intelligence and health beliefs and practices of man affect his health.
 Example: A person who understands that smoking has deleterious effects on health
will not some cigarettes in order to avoid the diseases brought about by smoking. A
baby who cannot distinguish between food and nonfood stuff will eat anything given
to him if he is hungry just to satisfy his hunger.

c. Socio-cultural being

 Man is a social being because he needs to interrelate with other men. In order for man
to be able to relate with others, he uses, the different modes of communication.
 As a social being, man forms relationships.
 Example: Man is a member of a family. The family provides a permanent social
network. Man loves, cares for people around him. Man has a need to be close to
someone that is why he form friendships, marry, join a social group and develop the
ability to adjust to different kinds of people the ability to adjust to different kinds of
people in order that he may be able to go along well with them and establish
meaningful relationships.

d. Spiritual well being

 Man is body and soul. Both created by God. The body needs food and oxygen to
survive, the soul needs God.
 Example: the world is ever changing. Nothing is constant in this world, everything
changes. This reality is the reason why man needs to believe in something permanent,
something that will always be there, something that is in control of everything so that
man will have something to hold on to and to give him hope and strength in times of
difficulties, something to guide him in times of confusion and to guide him in
decision making. Example: Religion satisfies our spiritual needs.

e. Emotional Being

 Ability to experience different emotions and express them appropriately, to recognize,

accept, and express them appropriately, to recognize, accept and express our feelings,
to manage and deal with stress and to accept our limitations. This is the reason why a
person smiles, laugh, cry, get angry, fall in and out of love, become lonely and happy.

2. MAN IS A HOLISTIC BEING.

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 a. In the concept of holism, the main assumption of man is the “The whole is more
than the sum of its parts.”
b. Holism
 Holism is a term coined by Jan Smuts and it means “whole” in Greek.
 Holistic theory states that man is an interacting unified whole that is more than the
sun of its parts. A disorder in one part of the whole system will affect the whole
system.
 In interacting with patient, a midwife must strive to understand hoe every aspects of
the person affects his health in general, including how the person is affected by his
environment and how he affects his environment.
c. Holistic Health Care
 It is health care that takes into consideration the whole person in his environment,
including all the components of health: health promotion, maintenance, restoration,
education, disease prevention and rehabilitation.
 In holistic health care, health is defined as the integration of mind, body and spirit.

3. CONCEPTS OF MAN AND HEALTH ACCORDING TO THEORIST

a. Florence Nightingale
 Man: An individual with vital reparative processes to deal with disease.
 Health: the focus is on the reparative process of getting well.
b. Hildegard Peplau
 Man: An organism striving to reduce tension generated by needs.
 Health: Ongoing human process in the direction of creative, constructive, productive,
personal and community living.
c. Lydia Hall
 Man: Unique individual, past the acute stage of lo9ng term illness, capable of learning
and growing.
 Health: Development of a mature self-identity that assist in the conscious of actions
that facilitate growth.
d. Faye Glenn Abdellah
 Man: The recipient of nursing care.
 Health: May be viewed as a dynamic pattern of functioning, with continuous
interaction between internal and external stimuli.
e. Ida Orlando
 Man: A unique individual
 Health: Not specified. Primarily addresses illness.
f. Virginia Henderson
 Man: individual person is a whole, complete and individual being compose of
biological psychological and spiritual components.
 Health: independent functioning within 14 components: breathing, eating and
drinking, comfort, sleep and rest, clothing, body temperature, safety, communication,
worship, work, recreation, and continued development.
g. Martha Rogers
 Man: Unitary man, a four-dimensional energy.

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 FIVE ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS
1. Man is a unified whole- hole not equal to some parts.
2. Individual and environment are continuously exchanging matter and energy.
3. Lifecycle evolves irreversibly and unidirectional along space and time continuum.
4. Life patterns identify individuals.
5. Humans have the capacity for absorption and imagery, language and thought,
sensation and emotion.
 Health: Not specifically addressed, but emerges out of interaction with the human and
the environment, is forward moving, maximizes human potential.
h. Imogene King
 MAN: bio psychosocial being. Humans are open systems in constant interaction with
their environment
 Health: a dynamic life experience. The person is continuously adjusting to stressors in
internal and external environment with the use of one’s resources to achieve
maximum potential.
i. Dorothea Orem
 Man: man is an integrated hole that includes physical, psychological, interpersonal
and social aspects of human functioning who is self-reliant and capable of self-care
 Health: state of fullness or integrity of human beings including physical, mental and
social well-being.
j. Mira Estrin Levine
 Man: is a holistic being
 Health: the maintenance of unity and integrity of the patient.
k. Sister Calista Roy
 Man: bio psycho social being and the recipient of nursing care. Man is an adaptive
system with coping mechanisms acting to maintain adaptation in the for adaptive
modes: fission logical, self-concept group identity, roll function, and enter
dependence.
 Health: is a state in process of being and becoming integrated and hole that reflects
person and environment environmental mutuality. The person encounters adaptation
problems in changing environments.

l. Dorothy Johnson
 Man: person is viewed as having two major systems: biological and behavioral.
Behavioral subsystem addressed by nursing intervention.
Biological subsystem: addressed by medical intervention
 Health: equilibrium with eight subsystems of the person.
m. Betty Neuman
 Man: A composite of physiologic, psychological, sociocultural and development
variables.
 Health: Health or wellness exists when all parts and subparts are in harmony with the
whole person not specified. Primarily addresses illness.
n. Jean Watson
 Man: Physical, mental and social wellbeing.

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 1. A fully functional integrated self.
2. A valued person in and of him or herself to be cared for, nurtured, understood and
assisted.
o. Madeleine Leininger
- Health: Health refers to “beliefs, values, and action patterns that are culturally known
and used to preserve and maintain personal or group well-being, to perform daily role
activities.

ASSESSMENT TASK

Now that we are done with the Lesson 1, let’s test your knowledge.

Let’s begin!
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE
DIRECTION: Read each question carefully, and then CIRCLE the answer that
best fits the question. (5 points)

1. Imogene King's "goal attainment theory" is a type of:

A. Need theories
B. Interaction theories
C. Outcome theories
D. Humanistic theories
2.  Which is NOT a concept related to Faye Abdellah's theory?
A. Susternal Care Needs
B. The twenty-one Nursing Problems
C. Restorative Care Needs
D. Therapeutic Self-care Demands
3.  The sequential phases of interpersonal relationship in Peplau's theory includes all,
EXCEPT:
A. Orientation 
B. Identification 
C. Restoration
D. Exploitation 
4. The principles of conservation of energy, structural integrity, personal integrity and
social integrity were explained by:
A. Lydia Hall
B. Myra Estrine Levine
C. Betty Neuman
D. Hildegard Peplau
5. Who explained about "Care, Cure and Core as three independent but interconnected
circles of the model"?
A. Patricia Benner
B. Rosemary Rizzo Parse
C. Lydia Hall
D. Jean Watson

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Answer the question comprehensively.
1. Discuss the importance of learning the concept of man in midwifery profession. (10
points)

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Note: Additional written evaluation task will be uploaded/posted in the Google Classroom.

RUBRIC FOR SHORT ESSAY

This will be my basis in giving scores in your assessment tasks and others in a form of essay.
10 points  Demonstrates a thorough understanding of the concepts and/or
procedures embodied in the task.
Response is
 Indicates that the student has completed the task correctly,
complete and
using applied concepts and procedures.
correct.
 Contains clear, complete explanations and/or adequate work
when required.
 Applied appropriate words and good in grammar and no misspelled
words.
6 points  Demonstrates partial understanding of the concepts/and or
procedures embodied in the task.
response is
 Addresses most aspects of the task, using applied concepts and
partially
correct. procedures.
 May contain an incorrect answer but applies appropriate process
with valid reasoning and/or explanation.
 May contain a correct answer but provides incomplete
procedures, reasoning, and/or explanation.
 May reflect some misunderstanding of the underlying concepts and/or
procedures.
3 points  Demonstrates only a limited understanding of the concepts/and
or procedures embodied in the task.
response is
 May address some elements of the task correctly but reaches
incomplete and
exhibits many an inadequate solution and/or provides reasoning that is faulty
or incomplete
flaws but is not
completely  Exhibits multiple flaws related to a misunderstanding of
incorrect. important aspects of the task, misuse of the concept or
procedures, or faulty reasoning
 Reflects a lack of essential understanding of the underlying concepts
and procedure
 May contain a correct answer but required work is not provided
O point  Point response is completely incorrect, irrelevant or incoherent, or a
correct response that was arrived at using an obviously incorrect
response is
procedure.
completely
incorrect or no
answer at all

REFERENCES:

Pillitteri,A. (2014). Maternal & child health nursing: care for the childbearing and
childrearing [Link]:Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Taylor, C. (2015). Fundamentals of nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer

Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.