Health Promotion and Behavioral Change
Health promotion is an essential aspect of healthcare. As primary care providers, nurses also have a role in patient education about health promotion to encourage behavioral changes. Statistics indicate that encouraging behavioral changes results in a healthier lifestyle and decreased hospital visits. For instance, cessation of smoking is associated with reduced risks of lung cancers and cardiovascular diseases. The Pender’s Health Promotion Model provides a better approach to how people view health by defining health as a positive dynamic and not the absence of disease (Heydari & Khorashadizadeh, 2016). It was developed to serve as a tool that the nurses can use to plan on various behavioral modification interventions necessary for disease prevention and health promotion by encouraging health-promoting behaviors. The model applies self-efficacy to ensure and promote compliance among the patients. They are counseled and advised on the various benefits of behavior changes such as smoking cessation and exercise. The model highlights how various behavioral changes can result in improved health and the prevention of many diseases, thus emphasizing the need to encourage its application in practice.
Various factors hinder one’s ability to learn various behavioral changes. The most critical is the person’s ability and readiness to learn and change. Patients who are ready to learn and change their behaviors will be more receptive to the advice given to them than those who are unwilling to learn. Therefore, the patient who receives such advice will benefit from the outcomes compared to those who are not ready to learn and change (Hepburn, 2016). The other barriers can be categorized into physical, mental, or environmental barriers, which influence the patient’s ability to learn as required. These barriers require adequate assessment and the development of crucial strategies in addressing them before learning. Learning without eradicating the barriers is likely to lead to the failure of such interventions in achieving their desired outcomes.