Nurses' perceptions, understanding and experiences of health promotion.
OBJECTIVE
This paper presents an account of nurses' perceptions and understanding of health promotion in an acute setting.


BACKGROUND
Health promotion is considered the remit of every nurse. To engage in health-promoting practice, however, nurses need to understand the term 'health promotion' clearly.


METHODS
A single qualitative embedded case study was used. Purposive sampling of eight nurses was employed. Initially, theses nurses were observed in practice and, following this, a semi-structured one-to-one interview was conducted with each observed nurse. Qualitative data analysis guided by work of Miles and Huberman was employed.


RESULTS
The data revealed one main theme: health-promoting nursing practice and this consisted of six categories and five subcategories. The findings indicated that nurses struggled to describe their understanding of health promotion, their understanding was limited and the strategies described to conduct health promotion were narrow and focused on the individual. Their perceptions and descriptions of health promotion were more in keeping with the traditional health education approach. Overall health promotion was reported to occur infrequently, being added on if the nurse had time. Factors relating to education, organizational and management issues were identified as key barriers prohibiting health-promoting nursing practice.


CONCLUSIONS
Nurses must recognize that health promotion is a broad concept that does not exclusively focus on the individual or lifestyle factors. Nurses must be educated to recognize health-promoting opportunities in the acute setting, as well as how to plan for and conduct health promotion so that it becomes integral to practice. A review of the methods of organizing and delivering nursing care is also advocated.


CONCLUSIONS
Ward managers have an important role in supporting nurses, creating a culture for health promotion and sharing power in decision-making processes, so that nurses feel valued and empowered.
Casey
Dympna
D
Department of Nursing and Midwifery Studies, Centre for Nursing Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. dympna.casey@nuigalway.ie
D000208:Acute Disease / Q000451:nursing; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D032882:Comprehension; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007494:Ireland; D008019:Life Style; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000523:psychology; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010358:Patient Participation; D011209:Power, Psychological; D036301:Qualitative Research; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016526:Workload