Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2003 Summer;46(3 Suppl):S74-86.
doi: 10.1353/pbm.2003.0055.

Synthesis of scientific disciplines in pursuit of health: the Interactive Biopsychosocial Model

Stacy Tessler Lindau  1 , Edward O Laumann, Wendy Levinson, Linda J Waite
Affiliations
Review

Synthesis of scientific disciplines in pursuit of health: the Interactive Biopsychosocial Model

Stacy Tessler Lindau et al. Perspect Biol Med. 2003 Summer.

Abstract

Twenty-five years ago, George Engel proposed a challenge to the biomedical model and its limited view of disease as biologically rooted. Building on Engel's work, we present the Interactive Biopsychosocial Model (IBM). The IBM argues for a reorientation in biomedicine where research, education, and clinical practice: (1) address health in addition to illness; (2) aim to decipher interrelated biophysical, psychocognitive, and social processes in health and disease, rather than seek a single root cause; and (3) take into account the social networks of the individual to achieve, maintain, and maximize health and well-being for individuals, their significant others, and society. Based on an interdisciplinary collaboration of medical and social scientists, this paper demonstrates the application of the IBM to understanding and generating hypotheses about the longitudinal relationship between sexuality and health, and sexuality and chronic illness (diabetes mellitus) at older ages. The model provides a dynamic, dyadic, framework for building scientific hypotheses about the etiologies and consequences of health, well-being, and disease throughout the life course.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The Interactive Biopsychosocial Model (IBM).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of diabetes on sexual health.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Baltes P. Theoretical propositions of life-span development psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline. Dev Psychol. 1987;23:611–26.
    1. Bass, S., and F. Caro. 2001. Productive aging: A conceptual framework. In Productive aging: Concepts and challenges, ed. N. Morrow-Howell, J. Hinterlong, and M. Sherraden. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press,
    1. Becker. G. 1964. Human capital. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.
    1. Bengston.V. L., and K. R. Allen. 1993. The life course perspective applied to families over time. In Sourcebook of families, theories and methods: A contextual approach, ed. P. G. Boss. et al., 469–99. New York: Plenum.
    1. Bokhour BG, et al. Sexuality after treatment for early prostate cancer: Exploring the meanings of “erectile dysfunction. J Gen Intern Med. 2001;16:649–55. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types