Salutogensis: Health as Movement. According to Aaron Antonovsky health was seen as a movement in a continuum on an axis between total ill-health (dis-ease) and total health (ease). The ability to comprehend the whole situation and the capacity to use the resources available was called the sense of coherence (SoC). This capacity was a combination of peoples’ ability to assess and understand the situation they were in, to find a meaning to move in a health-promoting direction, also having the capacity to do so - that is, comprehensibility, meaningfulness, and the manageability, to use Antonovsky’s own terms. Antonovsky also distinctly stated the salutogenesis was not limited by the disciplinary borders of one profession but rather an interdisciplinary approach and a question of bringing coherence between disciplines and realise what connects them. Furthermore, it is not only a question of the person but an interaction between people and the structures of society - that is, the human resources and the conditions of the living context. Salutogenesis, the origin of health, is a stress resource orientated concept, which focuses on resources, maintains and improves the movement towards health. It gives the answer why people despite stressful situations and hardships stay well. The theory can be applied at an individual, a group, and a societal level. It is the opposite of the pathogenic concept where the focus is on the obstacles and deficits.

Cf.: Lindström B, Eriksson M. Salutogenesis. (2005). Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.; 59: 440-442.