Health Promotion and Prevention of Diabetes Mellitus
Grand Canyon University: NURS 429V
August 12, 2012
Health Promotion and Prevention of Diabetes Mellitus Diabetes Mellitus has become a growing community health issue as it has climbed to the seventh leading cause of death among Americans (U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, 2012). This alarming statistic has made it apparent that prevention efforts need to be started and stressed to Americans to attempt to stop the growing number of people diagnosed with this disease. The three primary levels of health prevention (primary, secondary and tertiary) should be utilized. This paper will be a literature review of three journal articles focusing on diabetes mellitus and will discuss the purpose of health promotion in nursing practice; nursing roles and responsibilities in health promotion; nursing actions that promote health prevention and promotion; and finally a comparison of the three primary levels of health prevention.
Health Promotion in Nursing Health promotion is defined as a multifaceted approach to encouraging health related lifestyle changes of individuals and communities with the ultimate goal of enhancing the overall health of the individual and the community (Bennett, Perry, & Lawrence, 2009). Fry, Gleeson and Rissel (2010), recommend that health promotion be made a separate occupation from nursing. They argue that individuals would be specialists in the field of health promotion which would greatly aid in the health issues experienced by individuals and the community (Fry et al., 2010). This new occupation has yet to be established, leaving nurses to continue to use health promotion techniques in their practice.
Nursing Roles and Responsibilities in Health Promotion Nurses comprise a large and powerful workforce that should be incorporated in health promotion efforts (Fry, Gleeson & Rissel, 2010).
References: Bennett, C., Perry, J., & Lawrence, Z. (2009).Promoting health in primary care. Nursing Standard, 23,(47),48-56. Caple, C. & Schub, T. (2012). Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2: Prevention in Children and Adolescents. CINAHL Plus with Full Text, EBSCOhost accessed August 11, 2012. Fry, D., Gleeson, S., & Rissel, C. (2010). Health promotion and secondary prevention: response to Milat, O’Hara and Develin. Heath Promotion Journal of Australia, 21(2), 86-91. U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.(2012). Healthy People.gov. Closer Look: Health Disparities: Compare the Top 10 Causes of Death across Populations. Retrieved on August 10,2012 from http://healthypeople.gov/2020/chart.aspx?raceId= 10&ageId=16&genderId=3&race=All+races&age= All+ages&gender=Both