ABSTRACT
The aim of the qualitative study was to understand commonly held beliefs about health and how these impacted on lifestyle practices across different age groups and genders located in the lower to middle income groups in Co Louth. Definitions of health, and accepted ways of producing, maintaining and restoring health are socially constructed. While there is a tendency among health professionals to view health as a unitary concept, lay respondents in contrast hold complex and sophisticated theories of health. Gender also emerged as an important factor in relation to lay health understanding. Smokers suggested they felt no better after giving up the cigarettes, in fact some complained that their health deteriorated as a result of the abstinence. Lay people have their own rationality on what constitutes health risks for them, and although these may be at odds with scientific wisdom, they are rational and appropriate in the socio-cultural context in which they occur.
