Compare and contrast potential - Energy for Change Index and Hodges' model

The biopsychosocial model is quite all encompassing used as it is to help explain and represent pain, explain human development and balance the physical excesses of psychiatry.

For all its scope the biopsychosocial model is two domains short of Hodges' model.

Hodges' model is dated though, a child of the mid-1980s. The biopsychosocial model predates Hodges' and as models of nursing have fallen out of favour in terms of the attention they receive the biopsychosocial is subjected to critique as per:

Ghaemi, S.N. (2009). The rise and fall of the biopsychosocial model. Br J Psychiatry.195(1):3–4.

Hatala, A.R. (2012). The status of the “biopsychosocial” model in health psychology: Towards an integrated approach and a critique of cultural conceptions. Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 1, 51-62. doi: 10.4236/ojmp.2021.14009

A cursory check reveals a diverse and current literature on the biopsychosocial model. If this is positive for the general role of 'models' in health and social care education and learning then there is another encouraging source in the five energies for change with its five domains, as per the figure:

The five energy domains

• Spiritual
• Social
• Physical
• Psychological
• Intellectual

There is clearly great similarity with Hodges' model although in h2cm the spiritual combines all the four domains of which the political also replaces the intellectual. I would equate the intellectual with the psychological, accepting of course the existence of individual and group psychologies. Being intellectual and becoming intellectual to the extent of an individual realising their potential has long been recognised as a political matter and consequence (Freire). As such the Political domain within Hodges' model is central to its relevance within the field of engagement and innovation and beyond.

Whilst the energy for change domains have a specific derivation and (instrumental) purpose I would suggest that a possible strength for Hodges' might lie in the notion (which it is) that there is an underlying conceptual structure from which the domains arise. This structure might support the model's application in time, as well as assuring its longevity and the stamina of its champion.


My prompt: Land, M., et al. (2014) Pedal to the metal to improve the NHS. HSJ, 124, 6389, 26-27.

Image: (please see title and image link)