Health Promotion Essay

910 Words4 Pages
Before figuring out what is health promotion, let’s first define the meaning of health. Many years ago health was “viewed as the absence of disease”. Today, health is defined, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as “the physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease”.
So what is health promotion? Health promotion is defined as the process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health. It focuses on helping individuals, families and communities develop the competence and capabilities they require to gain control over day to day events and circumstances so to achieve a sense of security. Simply put, health promotion is a way to give power to the individual to take charge of their health. It is your right as an individual to be healthy. The role as a nurse has also changed over the years from taking care of the ill in a hospitals setting to promoting health and disease intervention at home. Nurses in all areas of nursing are involved in health promotion. The job as an educator begins when the patient is admitted into a hospital setting and the initial assessment is done, until being discharged. Every day the patient is in the hospital is another day that teaching can occur. The teaching is not only done for the patient but for the family members as well. The family may need to be educated as well on the disease/illness of the patient. Both patient and family need to be given the opportunity to ask questions related to the disease process.
There are three different levels of health promotion prevention to be aware of: primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Primary prevention is the simplest of the three and the focus is on education with the goal of preventing the illness or disease from occurring. Primary prevention includes education, screening and changes in lifestyles.

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