Wellness and Prevention
What to know
Wellness and prevention content asks you to distinguish levels of prevention and match them to realistic scenarios. Primary prevention acts before disease occurs (immunization, nutrition education, safe housing). Secondary prevention finds disease early in asymptomatic people (screening such as mammography, blood pressure checks, or prediabetes glucose testing). Tertiary prevention limits disability and complications once disease exists (cardiac rehabilitation, diabetes self-management education, medical nutrition therapy for chronic kidney disease).
Know the dimensions of wellness (physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, environmental) and the difference between health promotion (enabling people to increase control over health) and disease prevention (targeting specific risks). Be able to name modifiable versus nonmodifiable risk factors, and understand that wellness is a continuum, not a binary state.
Traps
- Mislabeling a screening test as primary prevention. Screening is secondary unless it prevents exposure.
- Confusing health promotion with treatment. A cooking class for families is promotion; dialysis is treatment.
- Choosing the most clinically intensive option when the question asks for the least restrictive or most appropriate first step.
- Ignoring the social determinants angle: income, food access, transportation, and housing shape prevention outcomes and often explain the "best" answer.
Rule of thumb
Before disease = primary; early detection = secondary; living well with disease = tertiary. Ask: Has the condition happened yet? If no, it is primary. If yes but silent, secondary. If yes and symptomatic, tertiary.
Worked example: A community program offers free blood pressure checks at a senior center. This is secondary prevention because it detects existing but possibly asymptomatic hypertension. Add a walking group and this becomes health promotion layered onto screening.