Health Promotion
Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION IN NURSING PRACTICE
Health Promotion in Nursing Practice
Debbie Eckert
Grand Canyon University
August 8, 2011
Health Promotion in Nursing Practice
One of health promotion’s many definitions is the process of enabling people to gain control of and to improve their overall health. This process includes activities to sustain and increase personal wellbeing. Some of these activities to sustain wellbeing would be to not smoke, maintain fitness with exercising, and limiting exposure to radiation and toxic elements.
The purpose of health promotion in nursing practice is to enable populations to make healthy choices. Nurses help carry out promotion through the support of communities groups and organizations. Health promotion provides the ability to the population to be their own free agents through education to make personal healthy choices to improve health. Health promotion is a joint effort carried out by people, not forced upon people. Health promotion in nursing practice is used sometimes interchangeably with health education. However, health education is focused mainly on the aim of trying to change the mindset of the individual’s attitudes and behaviors about health by providing information about health and disease or illness.
Health promotion on the other hand, encompasses a broader spectrum and includes social and political interventions that could provide change to services and policies in the community and promotes social responsibility for health.
Nursing roles and responsibilities have evolved in health promotion by allowing nurses to promote health in diverse settings. Examples of these settings would be in homes, schools, and workplaces.
The role of nursing and health promotion along with education once used to only take place in the hospital settings. The ability of the nurse to promote health in more diverse areas allows the nurse to educate and implement ways to possibly reduce health care expenses by
Health Promotion in Nursing Practice
Debbie Eckert
Grand Canyon University
August 8, 2011
Health Promotion in Nursing Practice
One of health promotion’s many definitions is the process of enabling people to gain control of and to improve their overall health. This process includes activities to sustain and increase personal wellbeing. Some of these activities to sustain wellbeing would be to not smoke, maintain fitness with exercising, and limiting exposure to radiation and toxic elements.
The purpose of health promotion in nursing practice is to enable populations to make healthy choices. Nurses help carry out promotion through the support of communities groups and organizations. Health promotion provides the ability to the population to be their own free agents through education to make personal healthy choices to improve health. Health promotion is a joint effort carried out by people, not forced upon people. Health promotion in nursing practice is used sometimes interchangeably with health education. However, health education is focused mainly on the aim of trying to change the mindset of the individual’s attitudes and behaviors about health by providing information about health and disease or illness.
Health promotion on the other hand, encompasses a broader spectrum and includes social and political interventions that could provide change to services and policies in the community and promotes social responsibility for health.
Nursing roles and responsibilities have evolved in health promotion by allowing nurses to promote health in diverse settings. Examples of these settings would be in homes, schools, and workplaces.
The role of nursing and health promotion along with education once used to only take place in the hospital settings. The ability of the nurse to promote health in more diverse areas allows the nurse to educate and implement ways to possibly reduce health care expenses by
References: Buchanan, P. J. (2001). Skin Cancer. Nursing Standard, 15(45), 45-52, 54-55. Chapeskie, K. K., Cohen, M., Cumpston, M., Dickie, C., Mathur, R., & Michaels, E. (2006). Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. At work, 43(43), 1. Wiggs, W. P. (2007). Playing it safe in the sun: Primary Prevention of Skin Cancer for Sun-Exposed athletes. Dermatology Nursing, 19(6) (ISSN 1060-3441), 5. Retrieved from http://ovidsp.ts.oviid.com.library.gcu.edu:2048