Framework
Conceptual architecture for non-engineer readers — clinicians, gerontologists, and thesis reviewers.
Introduction
WHIO is a domain ontology for representing the integral health history of older adults. It is grounded in Whole Person Health / Care, aligning clinical and experiential dimensions of health rather than reducing the person to disease codes alone.
The framework also reflects the WHO Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) strategy (2025–2034) and Brazil’s National Policy on Integrative and Complementary Practices (PNPIC). Together these anchors situate WHIO as a bridge between formal ontology engineering and person-centred, integrative care research.
Four-level diagram
Levels
- A · Subject 6 classes
The older adult as the central subject of the integral health history.
Open in explorer → Subject
- B · Human experience 38 classes
Lived human experience: states, experiences, agency, meaning, and practices.
- B1 · Health state
- B2 · Subjective experience
- B3 · Capacity and agency
- B4 · Meaning and purpose
- B5 · Behaviours and practices
Open in explorer → Human experience
- C · Relations & context 10 classes
Relations and contextual factors that situate experience and care.
Open in explorer → Relations & context
- D · Care & outcomes 12 classes
Care processes, interventions, and health outcomes.
Open in explorer → Care & outcomes
Upper-level anchors
WHIO reuses upper-level classes from BFO 2020 (ISO 21838-2) and the
Ontology for General Medical Science (OGMS) as ontological anchors. Domain
classes declare rdfs:subClassOf links to these imported terms so that WHIO
remains interoperable with OBO Foundry-style modelling.