Sir Harry BurnsChief Medical OfficerThe Scottish Government

Transforming Scotland-The Early Years Collaborative

in context

Life expectancy trendsLife expectancy: Scotland & other Western European Countries, 1851-2005

Source: Human Mortality Database

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

1851

-1853

1855

-1857

1859

-1861

1863

-1865

1867

-1869

1871

-1873

1875

-1877

1879

-1881

1883

-1885

1887

-1889

1891

-1893

1895

-1897

1899

-1901

1903

-1905

1907

-1909

1911

-1913

1915

-1917

1919

-1921

1923

-1925

1927

-1929

1931

-1933

1935

-1937

1939

-1941

1943

-1945

1947

-1949

1951

-1953

1955

-1957

1959

-1961

1963

-1965

1967

-1969

1971

-1973

1975

-1977

1979

-1981

1983

-1985

1987

-1989

1991

-1993

1995

-1997

1999

-2001

2003

-2005

Portugal

Scotland

All cause mortality males 15-44

Cirrhosis mortality males 15-44

Workers in the 1950s

Alvin Toffler – Future Shock 1970 “To survive, to avert what we have termed future

shock, the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before.

We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots - religion, nation, community, family, or profession - are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust.”

“.....expresses the extent to which one has a feeling of confidence that the stimuli deriving from one's internal and external environments in the course of living are structured, predictable and explicable, that one has the internal resources to meet the demands posed by these stimuli and, finally, that these demands are seen as challenges, worthy of investment and engagement."

Sense of coherence....

For the creation of health....

....the social and physical environment must be:

Comprehensible Manageable Meaningful ......or the individual would experience

chronic stress

Creating wellbeing

Sense of coherence

Seeing the world as:StructuredPredictable

Feeling that it is:ManageableMeaningful

Wanting to engage

Generalised resistance resources

Family Nurture

IntelligenceWork

Material resourceIdentity

Cultural stabilityOptimism

Stable set of answers

Events

Stress

Tension

Resolution

Wellbeing

Alienation and Frankenstein "I came across people, other beings which I could see

were almost like myself. Or so I thought at first when I approached them, though, I found that they did not consider me as one of their own kind. As soon as they saw me, their faces became twisted with fear. They shouted at me and threw things and ran away from me, just as my own maker had done. So this is what I learned about myself - that I was a disgusting creature. Even though I had given them no cause, all men hated me."

Mary Shelley

Man’s search for meaning

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.” 

 Viktor Frankl 1902-97

Creating wellbeing

Sense of coherence

Seeing the world as:StructuredPredictable

Feeling that it is:ManageableMeaningful

Wanting to engage

Generalised resistance resources

Self actualisationEsteem needs

Belongingness needsSafety needs

Physiological needs

Events

Stress

Tension

Resolution

Wellbeing

The cycle of alienation

WorklessnessPoverty

In health,education offending

Chaotic early years

Unequal outcomes Consequences

Alienation

Initial event