Bengt Lindström

• Professor PhD MD
• Professor of Salutogenesis at NTNU Trondheim Norway Department of Health Science and Social Work

The aim of this work was to study the influence of several family dimensions on sense of coherence (SOC) in adolescence, controlling the possible effects from the demographic variables, gender and age. The sample consisted of 7580 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18, who had taken part in the 2010 edition of the WHO Health Behaviour in School...

The focus of this section is on mental health in a life course perspective and cultural aspects on the Sense of Coherence. According to Aaron Antonovsky the key concept, the Sense of Coherence (SOC), was considered as a universal construct measuring a global life orientation, a way of viewing the life as com-prehensible, manageable and meaningful....

The aim is to scrutinise the concept of health education (HE) and to broaden the concept of health literacy (HL) towards a lifelong healthy learning concept. HL is a broader concept than HE. This paper dissects both the health and the education concepts, and puts them into the value system of health promotion (HP) of the Ottawa Charter (OC) using t...

This chapter aims to explore, and to some extent, clarify the relationships between the salutogenic theory and the core concept sense of coherence by Antonovsky and the concept of resilience. Since 2003, the authors have conducted an extensive global synthesis of current salutogenic research (1992-2009) based on approximately 900 papers and doctora...

This chapter provides an overview of the salutogenic approach to public health challenges. The origin of the theory of salutogenises stems from the ­narratives of the survivors of the Holocaust. It was further developed into a life-­orientation theory and a model. Based on interviews with people who had survived this ­horror, a valid and reliable i...

The understanding of any societal health discourse is a complex question involving history, macro-politics, socioeconomic development, culture and traditions of both individual nations and continents as a whole. Interdisciplinary research has a history over the past century involving most social sciences and especially educational sciences supporte...

The book doesn't exist in digital form and the printed version is out of stock. A second edited is in progress, will be published in 2025.

Twenty years have passed since the central document of health promotion, the Ottawa Charter, was constituted. Health was seen as the process enabling individuals and communities to increase control over their determinants of health, thereby improving their health and enabling an active and productive life, that is, a good quality of life. One main...

Twenty years have passed since the philosophy and principals were formulated in the Ottawa Charter for health promotion. A critical reflection of the content and success of the Ottawa Charter was published before the IUHPE World Conference in Vancover in June 2007. This paper contextualizes and discusses Salutogenesis and Antonovsky in the developm...

The aim of this paper is to synthesise findings on the salutogenic concept, sense of coherence (SOC), and its correlation with quality of life (QoL). This study is descriptive and analytic, with a systematic integration of the contemporary knowledge base on the salutogenic research published in 1992-2003. This review includes 458 scientific publica...

Antonovsky's salutogenic concept of a sense of coherence (SOC) has proved most influential in the way that health is now perceived. To (1) describe the distribution of SOC among 40-70-year-old Alanders; (2) examine the distribution of depression in Aland, Finland, and its relationship with SOC; and (3) discuss the findings within a salutogenic fram...

More than 20 years have passed since the American-Israeli medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky introduced his salutogenic theory 'sense of coherence' as a global orientation to view the world, claiming that the way people view their life has a positive influence on their health. Sense of coherence explains why people in stressful situations stay we...

Transplantation is often an appropriate choice of treatment for children with end-stage renal, liver, heart or lung disease. Over the last decade, mortality and morbidity figures have been relatively stable and quality of life fairly good in children who have undergone organ transplantation. Few studies however, have focused on the experiences of t...

The aim of this paper is to synthesise empirical findings on the salutogenic concept sense of coherence (SOC) and examine its capacity to explain health and its dimensions. The study is descriptive and analytical with a systematic integration of the contemporary knowledge base on the salutogenic research published 1992-2003. The review includes 458...

An important goal of health promotion is to make it easier for people to make healthy choices. However, this may be difficult if people do not feel control over their environment and their personal circumstances. An important concept in relation to this is empowerment. Health professionals are expected to facilitate and enable people moving towards...

The editor of the journal has taken the initiative to develop glossaries on central concepts in health promotion. The aim of this paper is to explain and clarify the key concepts of the salutogenic theory sense of coherence coined by Aaron Antonovsky. The explanations and interpretations are the result of an analysis of the scientific evidence base...

The aim of this paper is to systematically review and analyse the validity and reliability of Antonovsky's life orientation questionnaire/sense of coherence scale (SOC). The study is descriptive and analytical with a systematic integration of the contemporary knowledge base on the salutogenic research published 1992-2003. The review includes 458 sc...

Social paediatrics is an approach to child health that focuses on the child, in illness and in health, within the context of their society, environment, school, and family. The glossary clarifies the range of terms used to describe aspects of paediatric practice that overlap or are subsumed under social paediatrics and defines key social paediatric...

The change of focus from the risk approach to the examination of health determinants has opened new research areas important to the development of health of adolescents. These approaches will, hopefully, eventually explain the development of health, and enable the young to enjoy a full quality of life. Two key concepts are here presented. on the on...

Quality of life was measured in children with congenital heart defects (CHDs) registered in a total population of infants born live in the period 1982-91 (n = 22,810), using essential life spheres: external living conditions, interpersonal and personal conditions. In 200 children with CHD alive at the time the investigation was performed, 164 (82%)...

The hypothesis that early diagnosis of a ventricular septal defect (VSD) with spontaneous closure later on may impair the parental-infant bonding process, with consequences for the child's quality of life in the longer term, was tested in 51 children born in 1986-1991 (gestational age > or = 37-42 weeks) with VSDs diagnosed in the early neonatal pe...

Quality of life (QOL) is a concept with no generally accepted definition. Most clinical studies have had an individual approach where demographic and socio-economic population aspects have not been considered. QOL has hardly ever been used in studies of children. In this study QOL is defined as the essential resources of a child population, express...

Studies on children with special needs mainly concentrate on disease-oriented health problems and neglect the positive aspects of quality of life. In this study the quality of life of children withCystic Fibrosis andMyelomeningocele, 951 children in all, in the five Nordic countries is compared to that of a random sample of 10290 children. The aim...

Studies on children with special needs mainly concentrate on disease-oriented health problems and neglect the positive aspects of quality of life. In this study the quality of life of children with Cystic Fibrosis and Myelomeningocele, 951 children in all, in the five Nordic countries is compared to that of a random sample of 10,290 children. The a...

The potential of the quality of life (QoL) concept lies in its basically positive meaning and interdisciplinary acceptance. This can be used when the Public Health sector tries to develop health into a resource concept, as is the intention of the WHO Health For All Strategy. Out of different scientific views on QoL this paper synthetises a theoreti...

When broader aspects of health are considered especially when assessing the life of the disabled it becomes necessary to reach beyond physical measurements to more dynamic aspects including the individual's other resources and demands. In such a context issues of quality of life are important. Quality of life is here defined as a term describing th...