Family health education is important in all communities. It is an opportunity to educate members of the society of concerning diseases, prevention tactics, and how they can take care of themselves. Such information is important because it eliminates vices such as ignorance, stigma and the spread of misconceptions. Additionally, family health education creates a healthier and cohesive society. Notably, they must be conducted by professionals such as family nurse practitioners so that they are effective. This paper will elaborate on the role of a family nurse practitioner in health education based on the Health Belief Model as a health promotion and disease prevention theoretic model.
Health Belief Model
This is a health promotion and disease prevention model designed to explain and foresee health-related behaviors. Specifically, it is a psychological theory that focuses on the human response to health services such as family health education ( Fonseca & Valenzuela, 2016) . This theory suggests that people’s lack of engagement or participation in health-promoting activities depends on their health beliefs, perceived benefits or barriers of participation and the stimulus to engage in the activity as well. The Health Belief Model is not only a prediction tool but also a measure of the level of participation and indicator of the family nurse role in family health education.
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The Role of the Advanced Nurse Practitioner based on the Health Belief Model
The first role of a nurse is to design an all-inclusive program. According to the model, variables such as race, gender, age and economic status influence community participation in community programs and health services. Therefore, to achieve success the family nurse practitioner must establish a program that appeals to different demographics. The family nurse must ensure diversity is featured in the staffing, the modes of communication and the execution. Fulfilling this role as an organizer guarantees equal participation and less barrier to delivering information on family health.
Secondly, the family nurse practitioner’s role includes establishing proper communication channels. The health belief model suggests that perceived severity influences participation in health services ( Mauro, Álvaro & Jaime, 2018, p. 99) . Thus, the family nurse must communicate the importance of the health education on offer so that people are interested to participate. This information must include the targeted results for each family such as better health, screening, and diagnosis or preventative knowledge so that the perceived benefits also attract participants. This prior communication is possible through brochures and mass media. The family nurse is responsible for ensuring the advertisements are clear, concise and appealing.
Lastly, family nurse practitioners must establish an accessible practice in terms of location, finance, and convenience. This approach is necessary because the health belief model suggests perceived barriers influence participation in health services. Therefore, if community members feel the services are too expensive or out of reach, they will not take advantage of the opportunity offered. Therefore, the family should eliminate some of these barriers by networking with community organizers and sponsors that may offer financial and organizational assistance. Also, the can collect ideas from the community members that would help create an interactive and appealing health education problem. Community involvement also helps in the planning and this should be encouraged as well.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper explained that family nurse practitioners are in charge of designing and all-inclusive health program, establishing proper communication channels and uniting different community authorities to eliminate possible barriers. Through the health belief model, the challenges to a successful program and thus ways that a family nurse practitioner can fill the gaps. Such an analysis is essential to any community project and helps identify the strategies that psychologist would recommend in their health promotion and disease prevention models. Using the information is these psychologists reduces the waste of resources and actually ensures a successful community education approach. Notably, family nurses are key in such a program and thus should execute their role effectively.
References
Fonseca Rodríguez, G., & Valenzuela Rodríguez, C. (2016). Función de la economía de la salud en el proceso de actualización Del modelo económico cubano. Medisan , 20 (9), 4025-4031.
Mauro, T., Álvaro, B., & Jaime, R. (2018). Determinantes sociales de la salud y discapacidad: actualizando el modelo de determinación. Gaceta Sanitaria, Vol 32, Iss 1, Pp 96-100 (2018) , (1), 96. doi:10.1016/j.gaceta.2016.12.004
Vázquez-Colunga, J. C., Pando-Moreno, M., Colunga-Rodríguez, C., de Lourdes Preciado-Serrano, M., Gabriela Orozco-Solís, M., Ángel-González, M., & Liliana Vázquez-Juárez, C. (2017). Salud Mental Positiva Ocupacional: propuesta de un modelo teórico para el abordaje positivo de la salud mental en el trabajo. Saúde E Sociedade , 26 (2), 584-595. doi:10.1590/S0104-12902017169061
