Improving Nutrition Using Health Promotion Model

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Improving Nutrition Using Health Promotion Model

Every person’s health is influenced by their family situation, their environment, the political climate and the community in which they live. The vital aspects of health promotion are advocacy and empowerment which assist persons and the community to make healthy choices (Raingruber, 2014). Health promotion consist of politicization for healthy communities, understandable healthcare information, safe homes, involving patients in care planning, access to nutritious food and health care and changing healthcare policies. It involves a careful assessment of a client’s background, strengths and challenges, and determining what they need from a healthcare provider, their plan on lifestyle modification, how they are to change and how they will learn best (“HEALTH PROMOTION”, 2008). 

Intake of food, obesity and lifestyle behaviors are linked in development of chronic illnesses like cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and type 2 diabetes. According to Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons (2011), Pender’s model consists of interventions that are implemented in achieving nutritional health, and are ineffective in case the client is threatened with dire outcomes like the consequences of obesity or death outcome. The nurse is required to work with the patient to identify the required patient’s behaviors and actions. The client should have positive personal value as it assists in identification of motivational significance. For example, when establishing a plan for Emily whose weight is 110lb over the weight limit, the first step would be to identify from the client if it’s possible for her to loss the excess weight-110lb.

Her physical ability, individual and cognitive characteristics, together with external forces should be considered while establishing a realistic nutritional health promoting plan. The socio-cultural, psychological, biological, environmental and spiritual domains, which influence nutritional and eating behaviors, are considered in utilization of the model. These factors will help in the achievement of the adequate status of our client Emily. In solving this overweight or obese problem, I would check on her prior eating behaviors. This would be through probes on the previous attempts on eating healthy and what she learnt from that.

Another factor to consider is her personal influences towards her habit. Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons (2011), explains that this would be achieved by identification of personal benefits acquired from eating healthy together with the barriers that she has while trying to eat healthier foods like whole grains products, fruits, vegetables and grains. It is important to check the self-efficacy of the client in overcoming the barriers she/he faces to eating healthy. The client should be engaged in an activity where he/she lists the healthy food they like consuming. This list will help in identifying what needs to be increased on their daily servings to ensure proportionate and balanced diet.

Other influence to check would be the interpersonal influences like; social norms, role models and social support. While on social norms, the nurse should investigate if there are family members and friends who expect the client to eat healthy. In this factor, the client is required to identify the friends or family members who influence them to do so and the ways they help them. In establishing social support, the client is supposed to identify individuals who not only influence them but they eat together with them. They should also state if they have family members or friends who are their role models. These individuals are to be consuming healthy food most of their times and the client should identify the foods. 

What follows are situational influences, where the client is required to state where he/she can find their healthy and favorite foods. This will enable the client to learn where he/she can find healthy foods to consume while at work or home. It’s important to set achievable goals to ensure commitment in the established plan. This plan should have the steps for healthy eating and ways of reducing weight and obesity. 

The nurse or health care provider should sit with the client to help them in developing a plan that will avoid competing preferences and demands. In identifying the competing demand, the client should highlight the problems he/she encounters while trying to eat healthy. One competing demand can be the urge to eat junk foods instead of healthy snacks. The remedy for this would be having healthy snacks in the house instead of junks. The client will be trained on not eating out of sight but out of hunger to reduce the intake of unhealthy foods. Counting and calculating the number of calories in a serving is required to ensure only the required amount is consumed. 

References

HEALTH PROMOTION. (2008). Nutrition & Dietetics, 65(1), 96-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-0080.2007.00242.x

Pender, N., Murdaugh, C., & Parsons, M. (2011). Health promotion in nursing practice (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: N.J. Pearson, ©2011.

Raingruber, B. (2014). Contemporary health promotion in nursing practice. Burlington, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning.