Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms

What is the Difference Between Care and Concern

The key difference between care and concern is that care is a responsibility that comes with close attention, while concern is a personal feeling that affects another individual’s happiness.

Care and concern are two important terms with reference to social well-being. They are actions that promote or preserve the well-being and satisfaction of another. They also contribute to the betterment of social values.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Care 
3. What is Concern
4. Similarities – Care and Concern
5. Care vs Concern in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Care vs Concern

What is Care?

Care is the provision of requirements necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something. We can categorize care into many categories, the main two categories being personal and professional. Medical care is the most common type of care, and it includes many different types, depending on the need of individuals. These include primary care, specialty care, emergency care, urgent care, long-term care, hospice care, and mental care.

Primary care is the first place where patients go for medical care. This includes doctors, pediatricians, nurses, and physician assistants. During specialty care, the individual will get special care depending on the condition or health problem that requires special knowledge in that particular avenue. These include cardiologists, gynecologists, physical therapists, or social workers. During hospice care, practitioners focus on palliative care for individuals to ease their symptoms and pain towards the end of life. Care is a responsibility that comes with close attention.

What is Concern?

Concern is an expression that shows compassion towards another individual, affecting that individual’s welfare or happiness. The concern is a very personal factor. There are different avenues under concern. It can include family, behavioral relationships, sexuality, motivation, stress, conflict, anger, grief, etc. Most of the time, the concern comes with love and affection. For example, parents have concerns about their children, education, quality of life, etc.

Concerns could also be categorized under behavioral concerns that include troubling, disruptive, and threatening. Concerns with reference to troubling include disjointed speech or writings, persistent sadness or unexplained crying, change in patterns of social interaction, changes in physical appearance or personal hygiene, etc. Disruptive concerns include vague threats to self or others, demanding, verbally abusive, or intimidating behavior, and high levels of irritability or inappropriate excitement.

What are the Similarities Between Care and Concern?

What is the Difference Between Care and Concern?

Care is a responsibility that comes with close attention, and concern is a personal feeling that affects another individual’s happiness. Thus, this is the key difference between care and concern. Care is a responsibility that is associated with the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something, while concern is an expression that directly shows compassion towards an individual to create a positive impact. In addition, care is mostly related to medical terms, while concern is not related to medical terms.

The below infographic presents the differences between care and concern in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Care vs Concern

Care and concern are two important terms with reference to social well-being. Care is a responsibility that comes with close attention. Concern is a personal feeling that affects another individual’s happiness. It is an expression that shows compassion towards another individual, which will affect the individual’s welfare or happiness. Concern is a very personal factor. So, this summarizes the difference between care and concern.

Reference:

1. “Module 1: Healthcare Systems.” Types of Patient Care.
2. “Types of Behavioral Concerns.” Washburn University.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Patient Care” (CC0) via Pxhere