Health Promotion for Nurses: Theory and Practice

Health promotion is an increasingly high profile aspect of a nurse’s role – both in line with health policy and as nursing has shifted from a disease model to a health model. This textbook explores how and why health promotion works in nursing, developing a new framework for understanding the nurse’s role and promoting evidence-based practice.

Drawing on empirical research and discussing existing theories of health promotion and of nursing, Stewart Piper identifies three principal approaches:

• The Nurse as Behaviour Change Agent
• The Nurse as Strategic Practitioner
• The Nurse as Empowerment Facilitator

The book describes the aims, processes, impact and outcomes of health promotion interventions in nursing for each of these models and identifies criteria for evaluating the associated nursing interventions – enabling clinical judgements about effective practice.

Evidence-based examples demonstrate the relationship between health promotion theory and pragmatic applications for nursing throughout. Each chapter includes an introduction, learning outcomes and exercises, making this an essential book for all nursing students studying health promotion.

Stewart Piper is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. His academic and research interests include the relationship between health promotion theory and nursing practice and empowerment.