Nola Pender Health Model - Essay Example

"Nola Pender Health Model" is a good example of a paper on the health system.
Dr Nola Pender came up with a health promotion model in 1996. The health promotion model is used commonly for research, education and practice. This model consists of two phases: decision-making and action phase. The first phase involves acquiring and maintains healthy lifestyle choices; while the second phase involves practising the acquired health-promoting behaviour (Polit & Beck, 2004). Nola Pender’s model is based on four assumptions. They include:

• Individuals strive to regulate their behaviours.
• Individuals interact with the environment in the process they transform it and also improve their lives.
• The health professionals make up the environment, and they influence the lives of people throughout their lifetime.
• Self-initiated changes in one’s interactive life are essential for behaviour change.

The first assumption that states "Individuals strive to regulate their behaviours" will be analyzed in this paper (Alligood, 2013). Each and every person strives very hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This is because they know the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. In my nursing career, I have found out that most people are not keen on their lifestyle choices but once they are aware, they strive to change the behaviours.

This assumption can affect the development of an effective health promotion plan if one of the two phases is not maintained. For instance, a weight loss individual may religiously follow the first phase by keeping fit and changing the diet; but may lose track of the target and resume old habits of unhealthy meals and lack of exercise. Several factors may trigger the development of a health promotion plan. They include lack of motivation, stress, and negative perception. Additionally, human beings often fail to keep up with a new routine. I recall from my clinical experience when a health promotion plan on improving nutrition was being conducted on some patients. The patients were given a meal plan, which was to run for four months. During the first month, all patients were keen on the diet, and this was positive for the health promotion plan. Some went a step further to quit taking alcohol so as to lead a healthy lifestyle.  After the two months, half of the patients had changed the diet and adapted another one which was convenient. They claimed that they had busy occupations and could no longer keep up with the meal plan; others claimed that cooking was a tedious process, and others claimed that they missed some of their favourite meals. Only a quarter of the participants stuck to the meal plan. The assumption "Individuals strive to regulate their behaviours" is evident from my nursing experience as the patients tried to regulate their behaviour; they interfered with the health promotion plan.

In conclusion, Dr Nola Pender’s health promotion model has helped many people to change their unhealthy lifestyles. This is because it tries to make the person manage the newly acquired healthy lifestyle by strictly following the two phases. This model strives to make one adopt healthy behaviours that will prevent some diseases, and become good managers of the chosen lifestyles.