AGENCY: THE HIDDEN DIMENSION OF THE SALUTOGENIC MODEL

Abstract

The way in which individuals perceive their quality of life is influenced by the contexts in which they live. Each of them perceives these contexts differently. Moreover, individuals' perception of their possibilities to influence their context and make use of their resources, differs greatly and appears to depend on aspects as individual motives, limiting or stimulating factors, resources, and whether these activities are meaningful to them. These aspects are interrelated within their contexts in complex and fluid ways. To better understand this fluidity we contend that the conceptualization of ?agency' of individuals from the Capabilities Approach, is useful. Agency refers to the conversion of a person's assets into realistic opportunities, allowing him/her to exercise agency by choosing how he/she prefers to function. This conversion process is limited or enhanced by factors in the social, physical and personal environment. This suggests that Salutogenic theory and the Capability Approach (CA) have complementary qualities. Therefore, we propose adding the dimension of ?agency' to the dimensions of SOC in the salutogenic model to better understand and facilitate how individuals experience quality of life.