The Purpose of the Study
The research article attempts to utilize the Pender's Health Promotional Model in enhancing nutritional behavior among women having overweight and obesity issues. Changes in the eating habits and lifestyle have put women at an increased risk of developing obesity more than ever before. Therefore, the study aimed at applying the Pender's Health Promotion Model (HPM) in assessing the nutritional behavior of obese and overweight women admitted in a clinic known as "Fatemiyeh Hospital" west Iran, the year 2015. The study also takes cognizance of the fact that obesity is a critical nutritional infection in most developed and developing countries and has become prevalent in the recent years. Research has postulated that behavioral factors such as lifestyle changes, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and stress all predispose an individual to overweight issues and obesity.
Sample
The research involved 108 women chosen randomly to participate in the study. The group of women was assigned to two sections, one which served as the experiment and the other one control. In Iran, the prevalence of obesity in women is at 21.5% compared to men who are at 13.7% (Khodaveisi et al. 2017). The disease causes several health complications including death in Iran. For instance, it is implicated in up to 80% of all the premature stroke, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and 40% of infections to do with cancer. The sample was acquired from a town known as Hamadan in western Iran where the rate of the obese and overweight was estimated to be at 15.8% and 33.7% respectively (Khodaveisi et al. 2017). In this area, the risk factors for overweight and obesity included improper nutrition and the overconsumption of fast foods. Furthermore, the foods reportedly exposed the women to several health concerns including cardiovascular disease, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes type 2 amongst others. The mean age of the participants in the study was 38 years. They also exhibited a mean Basal Metabolic Index of between 27 and 31 in the experimental group and 5 and 63 in the control groups. The participants emanated from diverse socio-cultural and economic backgrounds because of their random picking.
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The instrument for Measuring Health Behavior
As stated earlier, the method of choice in measuring the health behavior described in the article is the HPM. Applying the various health-promoting behaviors is an essential way of maintaining health. The health-promoting behaviors are practices that empower people to monitor their health and thus have a basis of improving both individual and community health. Studies have shown that education, coupled with various intervention methods, is an essential of reinforcing good behavior rather than merely relying on knowledge. The HPM is, therefore, one of the widely used models that allow for planning and altering unhealthy behaviors in a bid to promote health. Research has shown that the HPM strategy has great influence and efficiency in controlling all the potential health behaviors in a community.
The HPM is a function of the social cognitive theory which applies several cognitive-perceptual elements including self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and barriers which further enable an individual to employ the health-promoting behaviors. Modifying factors including interpersonal influences, demographic characteristics, and behavioral tenets interact with each other thus impacting the cognitive-perceptual processes. Khodaveisi et al. (2017) illustrated that the HPM proposed by Pender utilizes specific components that enhance strategies for intervention. IN Iran, obesity is regarded as one of the major health priorities. Most of the women are employed and therefore experience a lot of time from home leading to lifestyle and dietary alterations that expose them to high caloric foods with little nutritional value. However notably, no recent study had been carried out in Iran aimed at assessing the behavioral changes that have led to this potential epidemic in women. The Pender's HPM, therefore, seeks to investigate the predisposing factors and thus create a strategy that would improve the nutritional behavior among the obese and overweight women.
Research Findings
In summary, the significant findings from the study included the fact that the nutritional behavior employed by the participants significant, positively correlated the education level and family income rates in the control group. The probable reason to explain this was that the knowledge regarding nutrition and overall health is better in people with higher economic status. On the contrary, the results showed a significant negative correlation between nutritional behaviors and BMI in the experimental groups in the experiment, BMI appeared to significantly correlate with foods such as sweetened beverages, high-salt snacks, and sandwiches (Khodaveisi et al. 2017). Furthermore, part of the outcome revealed that the more people showed adherence to healthy nutrition practices, the more they showed positive health as far as obesity is concerned.
Implications for Practice
From the results obtained from the research, it remains apparent that the Pender’s HPM model positively impacts and enhances the health of women by improving their behavioral tendencies. Bastable, (2014) noted that nurses are at the forefront in influencing positive health behavior in their community setting with regards to lifestyle diseases such as obesity. Therefore, they can do this by promoting the knowledge of the people and asking them to adopt appropriate behaviors that guarantee them healthy lives. Nurses are also encouraged to tailor their educative strategies to the needs of the people with respect to their respective cultures (Bastable, 2014). Several factors including nutritional habits, knowledge, and culture differ from people to people thereby prompting nurses and caregivers to provide a culturally sensitive education. Nurses must, therefore, remain leaders in promoting good nutritional habits and fostering appropriate lifestyles in a bid to stop obesity.
References
Bastable, S. (2014). Nurse as educator: Principles of teaching and learning for nursing practice (4th Ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett. ISBN: 978-1449697501
Khodaveisi, M., Omidi, A., Farokhi, S., & Soltanian, A. R. (2017). The Effect of Pender’s Health Promotion Model in Improving the Nutritional Behavior of Overweight and Obese Women. International journal of community-based nursing and midwifery , 5 (2), 165.
