Achieving Whole Health: A New Approach For Veterans And The Nation

By: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and Health and Medicine Division and Board on Health Care Services and Committee on Transforming Health Care to Create Whole Health: Strategies to Assess, Scale, and Spread the Whole Person Approach to Health

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: Whole health is physical, behavioral, spiritual, and socioeconomic well-being as defined by individuals, families, and communities. Whole health care is an interprofessional, team-based approach anchored in trusted relationships to promote well-being, prevent disease, and restore health. It aligns with a person’s life mission, aspiration, and purpose. It shifts the focus from a reactive disease-oriented medical care system to one that prioritizes disease prevention, health, and well-being. It changes the health care conversation from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What matters to you?” The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Samueli Foundation, and the Whole Health Institute commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to establish a committee to provide guidance on how to fill gaps and create processes to accelerate the transformation to whole health care for veterans, both inside and outside the VA system, and the rest of the U.S. population. The resulting report presents findings and recommendations that provide a roadmap for improving health and well-being for veterans and the nation.