Study the occurrence of health conditions such as

disease, death, deformities or disabilities on human

populations.
 THE MULTIPLE CAUSATION THEORY

• is an outgrowth of the Domino Theory, but it postulates

that for a single accident there may be many
contributory factors, causes and sub-causes, and that
certain combinations of these give rise to accidents.
• According to this theory, the contributory factors can
be grouped into the following two categories:
1. Behavioral. This category includes factors
pertaining to the worker, such as improper attitude, lack
of knowledge, lack of skills, and inadequate physical and
mental condition.
2. Environmental. This category includes improper
guarding of other hazardous work elements and
degradation of equipment through use and unsafe
procedures.
THE MULTIPLE CAUSATION THEORY

AGENT EXAMPLES
BIOLOGICAL Virus, bacteria, fungus, parasite
CHEMICAL Lead, mercury, insecticide
PHYSICAL Humidity, atmospheric pressure, radiation
MECHANICAL Stab, trauma
NUTRITIVE Iron or iodine deficiency, cholesterol
 THE MULTIPLE CAUSATION THEORY
HERD IMMUNITY
Is the probability of a group or community
developing an epidemic upon introduction of an
infectious agent.

THREE COMPONENTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT

1. Physical environment is composed of the
inanimate surroundings such as the geophysical
conditions or the climate;
2. Biological environment makes up the living things
around such as plant and animal life and
3. Socio-economic environment which may be in the
form of level of economic development of the
community, presence of social disruptions and the
like.
NATURAL HISTORY DISEASE

To prevent disease we must

understand the natural history of the
condition, its distribution in the
population, and how to detect early
cases
STAGES OF NATURAL HISTORY DISEASE
LEVELS OF PREVENTION OF HEALTH PROBLEMS
CONCEPT OF CAUSALITY AND ASSOCIATION

Henry-Koch postulates asserts that a cause of a disease is any

event, condition, characteristics or a combination of these factors
that play an important role in producing the disease.

NECESSARY CAUSE
Refers to the factor must be present for the disease to occur.

SUFFICIENT CAUSE
Indicates that if a factor is present, the disease can occur, but the
factor’s presence does not always result in the disease’s occurrence.
CONCEPT OF CAUSALITY AND ASSOCIATION
CONCEPT OF CAUSALITY AND ASSOCIATION
DIFFERENT FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED
RISK OF DISEASE
• PREDISPOSING FACTOR –any characteristics of an individual, a
community or an environment that predisposes behavior or other
conditions related to health; includes knowledge, belief and attitude but
many include other factors such as socio-economic status.
• ENABLING FACTOR – any characteristics of an individual, group or the
environment that facilitates or make possible a certain health behavior or
other conditions affecting health; includes any skill or resource required
to attain that condition.
• REINFORCING FACTOR – any reward or punishment or any feedback
following or anticipate as a consequence of health behavior.
CONCEPT OF CAUSALITY AND ASSOCIATION
The relationship between a risk factor and a certain disease can
be described in terms of the following
types of association:
1. SPURIOS OR ARTIFACTUAL ASSOCIATION – association when none actually exists
2. INDIRECT – presence of known or unknown factor common to both a
characteristics and a disease may wholly or partly explain a statistical association.
3. DIRECT OR CASUAL – presence of a factor which wholly and directly explain the
cause of disease; no intervening variables
• ONE TO ONE CASUAL – suggests that when one factor is present, disease
results; conversely, when the disease is present, the factor must also be present.
• MULTIFACTORIAL CAUSATION – several factors acting independently or
synergistically can produce a disease.