Discuss various theories of health promotion, including Pender’s Health Promotion Model, The Health Belief Model, the Transtheoretical Theory and the Theory of Reasoned Action. List and discuss health behaviors for health promotion and disease prevention. Apply and discuss the principles of transcultural nursing to community health nursing. Apply and discuss the basic concepts of critical theory to environmental health nursing problems. essay

The main purpose of healthcare is to promote the well-being of the general population through interventions that enhance both mental and physical health. One of the strategies used to enhance public health is health promotion which refers to the development of systemic, community, individual, institutional, and group interventions that focus on improving health attitudes, knowledge, and behavior. Nurses provide direct care to patients hence they are more aware of individual factors that lead to poor health. As a result, they play a significant role in the development and implementation of health promotion interventions. The main action areas that nurses can be involved in include advocacy, helping policymakers develop healthcare policies that advance public health, participating in community activities, and supporting the development of supportive environments that promote good health (Iriarte‐Roteta et al., 2020). Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model (HPM) is a nursing theory that provides a tool for healthcare professionals, especially nurses, to engage in preventive actions that improve health and well-being. The theory posits that cognitive-perceptual factors, including perceived self-efficacy, barriers, and benefits impact an individual’s ability to engage in behaviors that promote good health (Khodaveisi et al., 2017). The purpose of this theory is to present the HPM as a framework for reducing the prevalence of chronic illnesses and consequently reducing costs incurred in treating these illnesses.

Application of Nursing Theory: Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model(HPM) Sample paper

Overview of the Health Promotion Model

Nola Pender developed the health promotion model (HPM) in 1982 with the belief that nurses should provide care that helps people achieve optimal health. The health promotion model (HPM) is based on the idea that people are biopsychosocial in that their environment shapes them. However, people also seek to develop environments that enable them to express their full potential (Aqtam & Darawwad, 2018).

Concepts of the health promotion model (HPM)

The HPM defines health as both the state of well-being and being free from disease. Health promotion is defined as a wellness approach that includes behaviors exhibited by people based on the desire to enhance well-being. The main concepts addressed in the HPM include unique experiences and characteristics possessed by people, behavior-specific effects and cognition, and how these cognitions impact behavioral outcomes. Individual characteristics include personal factors including psychological, sociocultural, and biological factors. Psychological factors include self-motivation, self-esteem, and perceptions regarding health status. Biological factors include intrinsic factors such as aerobic capacity, weight, gender, and strength, while socio-cultural factors include ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, acculturation, and education. Behavior-specific cognitions include the perceptions that people hold about their self-efficacy, barriers, and benefits of health-related actions that impact their well-being. Other factors such as situational influences, interpersonal circumstances, and competing demands influence an individual’s commitment to health behaviors (Khoshnood et al., 2018).

Assumptions and Propositions of the health promotion model (HPM)

The HPM assumes that people can regulate their behavior hence they actively seek to do so. People also interact with their environment and in the process are transformed by it and also work on transforming it to meet their needs. Healthcare professionals are significant components of the interpersonal environment within which people exist. Behavior change is only possible if people focus on reconfiguring how they interact with their environments (Khoshnood et al., 2018).

Generally, the health promotion model (HPM) propositions that personal characteristics, including both, acquired and inherited characteristics, impact healthcare beliefs and the ability to engage in behaviors that promote good health. People are more likely to commit to behaviors which they feel they will benefit from although perceived barriers may prevent commitment. The perceptions that people hold about their self-efficacy or competence also influence their commitment. Other factors that impact commitment to health behaviors include positive emotions, positive affect, presence of positive role models including healthcare professionals, family members, and peers, positive situational influences, and absence of competing demands. It is possible to modify physical, interpersonal, and cognitive environments to promote commitment to healthy behaviors (Khoshnood et al., 2018).