Agren, S., Eriksson, A., Fredrikson, M., Hollman-Frisman, G., & Orwelius, L. (2018). The health promoting conversations intervention for families with a critically ill relative: A pilot study. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 1-9.
The outlined in the article pilot study concerns conversations intervention for family members and was conducted in conditions of the Swedish health care system, where family-based care is allegedly rare. Approximately twenty families underwent nurse-led health promotion conversations – to determine their effectiveness pre- and post-tests were used. Furthermore, one year after the health promotion took place, Agren et al. (2018) contacted the families who reported improved family and social functioning and mental state compared to the reference group. The interventions’ effectiveness was estimated based on governmentally approved measurement tools, such as the Family Sense of Coherence scale. Nonetheless, the study’s sample size of seventeen families seems insufficient to make generalizations.
The article promotes family-focused medicine based on the Family Assessment and Intervention Model. Agren et al. (2018) consider the model to be a conceptual cornerstone of the developing Swedish family-focused health care that they appear to support in the paper. Despite the limited sample size and consequent inability to extend the study’s outcomes, the study has implications for nurses’ medical practice. The proposed health promotion conversations provide these health care professionals with a complementary instrument for alleviating families’ grief who have a relative in a critical condition. Additionally, the approach is supposed to motivate family well-being by establishing supportive relationships with nurses and determining together strategies to manage day-to-day life.
Eggenberger, S. K., & Sanders, M. (2016). A family nursing educational intervention supports nurses and families in an adult intensive care unit. Australian Critical Care, 29(4), 217–223.
The article’s central subject is the severe illness of an adult family member, which sometimes becomes a distressful experience shared between families and nurses. In such cases, the role of a nurse extends to comforting family members. Eggenberger and Sanders’ (2016) research revolved around nurses’ attitude, reliability, and sureness in providing emotional support for families with members in critical care. The selected nurses were educated apropos of such care using digital storytelling (narratives describing nurses’ experiences in caring for family members). After these educational sessions, nurses reported enhanced confidence in providing family care. Hence, the results that the article describes indicate the utility of educational activities to increase nurses’ emphatic response to patients’ relatives.
Family Assessment and Intervention Model considers a family to be a care unit, which aligns with the study’s purpose. As Eggenberger and Sanders’ (2016) state, the model constitutes a part of its theoretical framework, particularly in exemplifying nursing practice in the educational stories. Nurse practitioners may find the article beneficial – it allows for comprehending more in-depth the value of mitigating family grief through the family to nursing care. The article also encourages nurse practitioners to obtain knowledge and learn tools for providing this type of care. Patients in critical condition are a common nurses’ responsibility, and understanding the value of including family members into care provision could be essential for becoming an efficient medical worker.
Luquis, R. R., & Kensinger, W. S. (2018). Applying the Health Belief Model to assess prevention services among young adults. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 57(1), 37–47.
Rendering preventive care more accessible for young adults could be essential for diminishing the likelihood of future health problems. In their study, Luquis and Kensinger (2018) strived to estimate susceptibility to health threats, their perceived seriousness, and access to preventive care among young adults. The investigation demonstrated a considerable discrepancy between how susceptible young adults believe themselves to be and the perceived seriousness of a health condition depending on the participants’ age, gender, and medical condition. For instance, female participants felt more susceptible to hypertension and asthma, while male participants to STIs. To obtain the data for these conclusions, the researchers chose an online survey platform due to its several benefits, namely anonymity, accessibility, and convenience.
The findings outlined in the article show that the notion of perceived susceptibility and seriousness of a health condition found in the Health Belief Model occupies a considerable place in young adults’ decisions to contact preventive services. It is also suggested that educational and promotional health campaigns regarding preventive care usage should shift focus to these two notions to maximize positive outcomes for the described demographic category. Furthermore, nurse practitioners can incorporate information about the differences in perceived susceptibility and seriousness among different sexes and age categories in health promotion and disease prevention practices.
Mo, P. K. H., Wong, C. H. W., & Lam, E. H. K. (2018). Can the Health Belief Model and moral responsibility explain Influenza vaccination uptake among nurses?. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1–52.
Influenza vaccination is essential among nurses to prevent the disease and increase patient safety; however, the vaccination rate was discovered to be insufficient in Hong Kong. The article investigates which factors impact the rate of vaccination among nurses based on the Health Belief Model as well as the perception of moral obligation to receive it. This cross‑sectional study establishes a link between colleagues’ recommendations, perceived moral responsibility, and increased likelihood of being vaccinated among approximately two hundred interviewed nurses. The performed investigation concludes that health promotion, specifically for influenza vaccination, should be based on the Health Belief Model to increase the sense of moral responsibility and, thus, the vaccination rates among medical professionals.
The article used the Health Belief Model as its theoretical foundation. The theory seems to be commonly used to explain behavior among the nursing staff and other medical professionals associated with vaccination. The theory’s six factors (severity of the health threat, susceptibility, benefits, barriers, cues to action, and self‐efficacy) were used to examine the reasons for low influenza vaccination rates among Hong Kong’s nurses. From a nurse practitioner’s perspective, the selected article demonstrates how the theoretical model can be applied to solve an acute internal health care issue. The findings also imply that interactions among colleagues and inside educational initiatives centered around risks of contracting influenza and being a source of infection for patients help promote more responsible behavior.
Shojaei, S., Sedigheh, S. T., Jamshidi, A. R., Wagner, J., & Kensinger, W. S. (2017). Social Cognitive Theory-based intervention and low back pain among health care workers in Qom Hospitals of Iran. International Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain Prevention, 2(1), 193–201.
Low back pain is a problem that decreases life quality and the ability to perform work‑related tasks such as patient-handling and is seemingly common among health care workers. The examination conducted by Shojaei et al. (2017) encompassed more than one hundred nurses instructed about outcome reinforcement, self-efficacy, and emotion regulations – Cognitive Theory-based educational intervention. It is stated that the interventions improved the health workers’ conditions related to low back pain. Nonetheless, the researchers (Shojaei et al., 2017) advise further similar investigations to corroborate this efficacy of low back pain prevention interventions. Thus, the article can be viewed as a foundation for more extensive research on the subject.
Social Cognitive Theory is incorporated in the research as a basis for the data gathering instrument (questionnaire), specifically its key constructs. The theory’s choice is rationalized by its role in explaining and predicting healthy behavior and serves as a model for planning and an efficiency indicator. Since Social Cognitive Theory suggests that behavior and changes in it are mutually influenced by individual and environmental peculiarities, it appears as an appropriate framework for testing interventions for an occupational disease. As an indispensable part of nurses’ practice, patient-handling requires caution also regarding how it can negatively impact these medical workers’ health. Therefore, the article can be used as a recommendation for low back pain prevention among nurse practitioners, ensuring their capacity to effectuate their work.