Teaching the Health Triangle to Your Patients: 5 Tips
Applying structured frameworks to healthcare strategies has been shown to organize and improve patient care. An example framework (used to ensure care is holistic and focused on the whole person) is the health triangle. Definitions for this system vary slightly by source, but they all divide health into three primary domains (physical, mental, and social), which require balance and attention to support a patient’s total wellbeing.
When teaching the triangle of health concept to patients, it’s important to address the inherent sociocultural factors that emphasize one aspect of the triad over others. Using this guide can help you address the narrowed focus that may prioritize one domain (often, the physical) while addressing additional questions and best practices around teaching all three. By giving patients the tools to advocate for themselves physically, mentally, and socially, you can empower them to not just recover within healthcare spaces, but to thrive.
What Are the Three Sides of the Health Triangle?
Health can be visualized as a triangle with three important angles. These essential points include:
Physical Wellbeing
This domain involves bodily health, focusing on the functionality of physical systems (like cardiovascular and/or musculoskeletal wellness). Physical wellbeing is often prioritized above the other triangle points, receiving the bulk of therapeutic attention in healthcare spaces.
Influential activities:
- Exercising (such as walking or swimming)
- Eating a healthy diet
- Receiving recommended immunizations
Mental Wellbeing
It’s often overlooked in the context of physical ailments, but according to the health triangle, mental fortitude is an equal consideration of overall wellbeing. It pertains to how patients are feeling, what they’re thinking, and how they’re able to cope (particularly in times of stress).
Influential activities:
- Prioritization (like time budgeting, for example)
- Learning (potentially through reading or play)
- Mindfulness and meditation
Social Wellbeing
Social wellbeing is another aspect of the triangle that often takes a backseat to the physical domain. However, it’s been shown to have tremendous influence on health outcomes (particularly for elderly populations). It involves the relationships and support that give patients reliable touchpoints within their communities.
Influential activities:
- Communication (in-person or via the phone)
- Participation in activities or organizations
- Sharing meals with others
It’s important to note that many activities bridge the three categories, influencing wellbeing across domains. One notable example is sleep, which is imperative to both physical and mental health.
What Is the Health Triangle’s Purpose?
At its core, the triangle is a tool for understanding and maintaining overall health. By highlighting essential aspects of health that are often overlooked (such as social belonging), it helps clinical progression move beyond isolated treatment measures, instead focusing on long-term wellness that prevents compounding health crises or readmissions.
As more health systems move toward value-based care, the longevity that this three-part model encourages across treatment measures is increasingly important. It aligns facility treatment frameworks with compliance-endorsed standards, saving healthcare costs and ensuring a forward-facing approach to care.
What Are the Benefits of Using the Health Triangle? Examples and Explanation
Implementing the triangle of health and wellbeing into your patient education and practice strategies has the potential to create long-lasting, beneficial change. Below are some of the positive impacts this model’s use may have on your patient population (or organizational goals), along with real-life examples.
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Improved Patient Experience |
A holistic approach that encourages person-centered care can yield a better, more personalized experience, boosting patient satisfaction. |
Example: After learning about the wellness triangle, a patient is able to advocate for quality time with family, and works with nursing staff to coordinate assessments and care around visiting hours. This balances their physical needs with the social, creating a better experience. |
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Better Health Outcomes |
The triangular framework balances focus among all three domains, helping to prevent critical patient needs from being overlooked. This can help reduce health crises and readmission rates. |
Example: A case manager learns that a patient feels alone at home, with nobody to talk to or help if needed. This initiates a plan for home nursing care, giving the patient a safer discharge plan with support for ongoing physical and social health maintenance. |
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Enhanced Interprofessional Collaboration |
Different team members focus on different domains. Nurses focus on the physical, a chaplain prioritizes the mental, and a social worker ensures social wellbeing. By utilizing a system that spotlights all three domains, teamwork becomes essential, facilitating a more collaborative work environment. |
Example: To ensure that the triangle’s three domains are addressed for every patient, interdisciplinary rounding expands to include social work and (where available) counseling services. This extends the perception of necessary care interventions, promoting interprofessional respect and understanding. |
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Cost Savings and Enhanced Reimbursement |
Because wellness isn’t limited to a one-time fix, treatment parameters target the whole person, yielding better, more stable outcomes. This can increase reimbursements within value-based systems, and also decrease the risk of readmissions and snowballing conditions. |
Example: A patient admitted for a simple arm fracture is asked about their mental health. Because their nursing team didn’t simply focus on their physical issue, signs of depression are identified, leading to treatment that addresses their mental health condition during that hospital admission. This prevents an escalated mental health crisis related to unchecked depression later on. |
Teaching the Health and Wellness Triangle: 5 Tips for Healthcare Professionals
Answering the question, What are three components of health? and applying them as a three-part framework can benefit your patients and organization. So, how do you teach them to maximize their benefit while engaging your patients in their own health maintenance? The five strategies explained below can help.
1. Leverage the Framework’s Visual Nature
A triangle is highly recognizable (even for many pediatric patients), and using the visual nature of this framework can help make it an accessible, memorable tool. Use a health triangle chart or handout to make the most of its visual impact, reaching patients with different learning styles.
Tip: If the budget allows, make your visual aid colorful by assigning distinct colors to each domain and maintaining those color associations throughout the pamphlet or flier.
2. Individualize the Tool for Each Patient
The expression of each domain will be different for every patient. For example, physical health for a patient with a chronic condition will look different from someone without that challenge. Similarly, a very introverted person’s social requirements will be markedly distinct from those of an extrovert. Make sure that the way you introduce (and talk about) the triangle meets the needs of the individual you’re using the framework with.
Tip: Encourage your patients to use teach-back by applying the framework to their own experiences and needs. This will help you ensure their understanding of the tool while also highlighting their specific requirements so you can better personalize their care.
3. Integrate Wellness Checkpoints Into Care
Ensure that patients understand that this triangular framework is constantly evolving by integrating it into ongoing care. For example, as part of the pain assessment (or reassessment) process, implement an accompanying mental health assessment stopgap. This could be reinforced with an electronic health record flag (or reminder) to ensure that the domains are being routinely assessed.
Tip: Use data to reflect your prioritization of all three domains. By asking patients at routine intervals to rate their physical, mental, or social wellbeing (on a scale of 0-10, for example), you can help them identify patterns across their different health domains.
4. Don’t Shy Away From Domain Overlap
Activities overlap, benefiting multiple domains at once. This is true for a patient who engages in a walking club, exercising to improve physical wellness while boosting their social connectivity. Many health triangle mental health examples also include physical activity as a method of maintenance. Instead of trying to force an unrealistic (but simplistic) black-and-white view of the tool, avoid either/or language and instead use domain overlaps to further explore the framework’s holistic intent.
Tip: Ask your patients to identify specific activities that they know benefit them across two (or more) domains. Assess the list for activities they’d like to prioritize because of the mutual benefits.
5. Create Domain-Specific SMART Goals
This triangular framework is meant to help patients achieve their best possible health. As part of that dynamic process, use the three-part approach to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely) goals for each aspect of their overall health.
Tip: Encourage your patients to keep a journal that tracks their progress with each of their goals. This will not only help impress its ongoing use, but also identify challenges that follow-up care can later (more effectively) help assist with.
Want to Develop Your Organizational Goals for Long-Term Success?
Healthcare is continuously evolving, but the health triangle offers a steady framework for supporting holistic wellness. For further assistance navigating change, our facility guides and managerial insights can provide further assistance in navigating change and help you stay ahead of the competition.