Nursing Discussion Questions 13: Pender’s Health Promotion Model, Self-efficacy Nursing Intervention
1. Self-efficacy nursing intervention was utilized when a patient needed to loose wight, because it negatively affected her blood pressure. I was sure that the patient was able to complete this task once she decided to start, and the only problem was that the woman had minor psychological blocks that prevented her from believing in her abilities (Bandura, 1977, p. 193).
Four main sources of information that increase self-efficacy were used in this case. The first step supposed verbal persuasion of the patient. I talked to the woman and discussed with her the idea that she has the will, the strength of character and self-discipline to master her eating disorders. It turned out that the patient had started the diet many times, but in the end she failed. Our communication showed that the woman preferred to starve instead of starting the healthy diet, and as the result she could not cope with the task. It took much time to explain the basic principles of healthy dieting to the patient and to write detailed menu for her, and the patient said that the task does not seem very difficult to her (Maeda et al., 2013. pp. 90-91).
The second step was to make the patient understand that she can attain serious results if she follows the recommendations. A week of healthy dieting showed that the woman lost 1 kg and she believed that she can accomplish this challenge. The third step was giving the patient the possibility to see positive examples of other people (Maeda et al., 2013. pp. 92). I gave her the Internet resources where she looked through the photos of people who lost weight successfully, and read their stories.
The woman understood that the task can be completed, she learned the ways to do it, and as the result she started to change her life style. The patient understood that her physical state influences her health, and when the possibility to eliminate the problem became clear to her, it turned into the plan for further actions.
2. It is possible to state that Pender’s Health Promotion Model is an effective tool in promoting overall health for the patients of all age groups. It allows patients to decrease the number of possible health problem, because it prevents them from the beginning. First of all the model proposed by Pender prevent people from getting into the group of health risk. Changing the life style and becoming a positive thinking, physically active person with a balanced diet often leads to better results than coping with the disease when it has already been diagnosed.
Diabetes is one of the examples that proves the importance of the Health Promotion Model. Constant control of the diet and the level of blood sugar is an effective prevention of crisis (Tinkham, 2014, pp.151-152). Though, it is possible to claim that regular physical exercises and healthy dieting as the life-time habit might eliminate the reason of diabetes, which is the obesity in the majority of cases (Ho et al., 2010, pp. 259-260).
In my opinion, third party payers like Medicare and physicians can not be against health promotion in general for several reasons. First of all, it is absolutely inhuman to be against health promotion, and neither physicians nor Medicare officials belong to the category of ethical perverts. It is possible to assume that if they are paid for treating the diseases, then they might be interested in ill people. However, health promotion supposes that people will care more about their health and will visit the physicians to check their problems more willingly and regularly, than it is now. That is why Medicare and doctors might not loose their work suddenly.
References
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychology Review, 84(2), 191-215.
Ho, A., Berggren, I., & Dahlborg-Lyckhage, E. (2010). Diabetes empowerment related to Pender’s Health Promotion Model: a meta-synthesis. Nursing & Health Sciences, 12(2), 259-267.
Maeda, U., Shen, B., Schwarz, E., Farrell, K., & Mallon, S. (2013). Self-Efficacy mediates the associations of social support and depression with treatment adherence in heart failure patients. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 20(1), 88-96.
Tinkham, M. (2014). Health promotion in the elderly with coronary artery disease. Journal of Vascular Nursing, 32(4), 151-155.