The Foundation of Health Promotion

Health promotion is defined as the process of empowering or enabling individuals or communities to improve or increase control over their ‘own’ health. Most health promotion programs tend to concentrate on maintaining the health and wellbeing of people by encouraging and engaging people or communities to select healthy behaviors and make adjustments to lower the risk of contracting chronic illnesses and other co-morbidities. Therefore, how an individual defines health and health issues is critical in describing their perception, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes towards health or healthy living. It influences the kind of actions or steps they would take towards promoting health and well-being for themselves and those around them. For example, an individual that defines or perceives health as “the process of improving and protecting diseases in communities by addressing unhealthy behaviors and improving structures” will more likely support and advocate for these courses of action.

For advanced practice nurses (APNs), this individual definition and perception of health can play a fundamental role in enhancing their roles as health educators, advocates, and promoters (Iriarte-Roteta et al., 2020). An advanced practice nurse’s role has evolved from being a mere promoter and educator to include illness prevention, follow-up treatment, and consultation. An APN is less likely to encounter challenges and resistance when advocating for healthy behaviors and decisions when dealing with individuals or communities that are already aware of what health is and what needs to be done to achieve a healthy society, such as exercising regularly, reducing the intake of alcohol, or smoking cessation. It is easier to educate, treat, or prevent chronic illnesses in an informed community than in an ignorant one.

Finally, the theoretical model of health that interests me most is the biopsychosocial model – which perceives illness and health behaviors as products of social conditions (like social support, family interactions, and cultural influences), behavioral elements (like health beliefs, stress, and lifestyle changes), and biological features (like the genetic makeup). Typically, health psychologists collaborate with nurses, other healthcare practitioners, and patients to assist in identifying the emotional, psychological, sociological, and genetic factors that cause or influence illness and health (Lehman, David, & Gruber, 2017). This ranges from designing treatment strategies and increasing therapy adherence to prevention programs like smoking cessation and weight loss programs. The biopsychosocial model was first introduced in 1977 by Engel George and is regarded as the first theoretical framework to provide multidirectional thinking.

References

Iriarte-Roteta, A., et al. (2020). Nurse’s role in health promotion and prevention: A critical interpretive synthesis. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(21-22), 3937-3949.

Lehman, B. J., David, D. M., & Gruber, J. A. (2017). Rethinking the biopsychosocial model of health: Understanding health as a dynamic system. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(8). e12328. doi:10.1111/spc3.12328

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