Salutogenic Model Analysis in Spain: Application in Public Health and Implications for Asset Health Model

Abstract

This article seeks to provide an in depth review about one of the most revolutionary and influential methods used in understanding the variables and processes that explain human health. Based on a new vision in the analysis of the consequences of the Nazi Holocaust, a doctor-sociologist—Aaron Antonovsky—managed to influence medicine and behavioral science by facilitating the keys for the optimal development of public health today. Despite the fact that this theory began appearing in the 1970s in the 20th century, its real development and expansion have been seen in recent years. In fact, in Spain, there is little scientific literature that analyses the theoretic keys of the model in depth. This work seek to cover this gap; to achieve this objective, it first presents how the construct of salutogenesis arose, the social-cultural context that promoted it, aswell as the importance public health acquires today. This is the aim of this work, which analyses the theoretical bases of the salutogenesismodel, with specific emphasis on its background and precursors, as well as its inception, development and current expansion.