Professional nurse's role in health-promotion activities
Discuss the professional nurse's role in health-promotion activities.
Examine theories and concepts related to health-promotion behaviors.
Discuss health promotion, illness prevention, health maintenance, health restoration, and rehabilitation in relation to the nurse's role in working with various populations.
Professional nurse's role in health-promotion activities
Nurses play a vital role in health promotion. They are uniquely positioned to educate patients and communities about the importance of healthy living, and to provide support and guidance in making positive changes to their lifestyle.
Some of the specific ways that nurses can promote health include:
- Providing education about healthy behaviors, such as eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, and avoiding tobacco use.
- Screening patients for health risks and providing interventions to reduce those risks.
- Advocating for policies and programs that promote health, such as access to affordable healthcare and healthy food.
- Working with communities to create environments that support healthy living.
- The Health Belief Model: This model suggests that people are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors if they believe that they are at risk for a health problem, that the benefits of changing their behavior outweigh the costs, and that they have the ability to make the change.
- The Theory of Planned Behavior: This model suggests that people's intentions to engage in a healthy behavior are influenced by their attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.
- The Social Ecological Model: This model suggests that health-promotion behaviors are influenced by a variety of factors, including individual, interpersonal, community, and environmental factors.
- Providing education about healthy behaviors
- Screening for health risks
- Providing counseling and support
- Advocating for policies and programs that promote health
- American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Healthy People 2020. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- World Health Organization. (2016). Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases 2014. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.