Health Promotion 1

Running head: HEALTH PROMOTION IN NURSING

Literature Review of Health Prevention and the Purpose in Nursing

Sommer Jones

Grand Canyon University

Abstract
 Health Promotion 3

Literature Review of Health Promotion and the Purpose in Nursing

Health promotion is a very important aspect of nursing

practice. There are three different but sometimes overlapping

levels of health prevention developed by Leavell and Clark

including, primary, secondary and tertiary. These levels of

prevention are related to specific health promoting tasks before

and during the disease process. (Edelman & Mandle, 2010)

Primary prevention focuses on being proactive through

education and health promotion. The primary goal is the decrease

in chance one has of obtaining the disease. According to the

World Health Organization (WHO) “primary prevention and health

promotion can prevent up to 70 percent of the disease burden”

(WHO, 2008).

An example of primary prevention is sexually transmitted

disease(STD)education and awareness. April is STD awareness

month, to increase the publics knowledge about the impact of STDs

in our lives and the importance of preventing, testing for and

treating STDs.(Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, 2011)

The STD campaign GYT:Get Yourself Tested(GYT). GYT is about

creating a youthful social movement about getting oneself tested

for and preventing the spread of STDs. The youth of today is

comfortable with using acronyms and can use the GYT acronym to

communicate with their peers about STDs. GYT encourages testing

as an act of pride to themselves and to their partners. The GYT

website offers information including local resources and testing

centers, also the opportunity to place a widget on your own page

from Facebook or to follow on Twitter. The GYT web site is based

on familiarity with the youth of today and provides insight into

what they want to know about sexual health and STD testing. It

addresses common STD misconceptions and features a quick STD

reference guide and charts about STD basics.(Centers For Disease

Control And Prevention) As nurses we need to be familiar with our

audience. By educating ourselves on the acronyms of the youth we

can create a bond to our patients and find a way for them to

speak to us about their concerns. We as nurses should understand

that our youth needs information given to them in a useful easy

to understand format.

The GYT campaign overlaps into secondary prevention. Not only

is there education relating to the spread of STDs but it then

focuses on the identification of disease including the knowledge

that a person can be asymptomatic and need to identify the

disease before symptoms may occur. Secondary prevention includes

screening activities and treating early stages of disease thus

limiting disability by avoiding or delaying the consequences of

advanced disease.(Edelman & Mandle, 2010, p. 18) Health education

and disease prevention activities are similar to those used in

primary prevention, but applied to a person or population with an

existing disease.(Edelman & Mandle)

Screening for STDs is an important action of secondary

prevention. Human Papilloma Virus(HPV) is a sexually transmitted

disease that can cause cervical cancer.(The Centers For Disease

Control And Prevention, 2006) Women with a history of STDs can

have an increased risk for cervical cancer. “Studies indicate

that precursor lesions for cervical cancer occur approximately

five times more fequently among women attending STD clinics than

among women attending family planning clinics”(The Centers For

Disease Control And Prevention) Cervical cancer screening using

the Pap test is low-cost and is a valuable screening test for

preventing invasive cervical cancer. According to the American

Cancer Society and American College of Obstetricians and

Gynecologists guidelines recommend yearly screening for women

aged 21-30 years and then every two to three years after age 30

if three consecutive annual Pap tests are negative.(The Centers

For Disease Control And Prevention) Secondary prevention to

include health promotion of clients inquiring about safe and

healthy sexual relationships can include the nurse educating on

examples of positive healthy behaviors such as abstaining from

sex, the improtance of a monagamous relationship, and the use of

condoms as a barrier during sexual activities. It is important

for the nurse to be an unbiased educator. If we as nurses judge

our patients we will not get their true history, thus we are

ineffective as educators.

Tertiary prevention is very improtant to the individual that

has been diagnosed with Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV). The

HIV crisis in the United states continues to spread. Over 56,000

new HIV infections occur each year.(Healthy People, 2010)

Tertiary prevention focuses on rehabilitiaion thus initiating

patients obtain their optimal level of functioning. The purpose

is to retun or keep the affected person in a useful place in

society.(Edelman & Mandle, 2010, p. 19) Almost 75 percent of new

HIV infections occur in men, more than half of that are gay and

bisexual, and forty-five percent of new HIV infections occurs in

African Americans.(Healthy People) In order to improve these

statistics and help those most greatly affected by this virus,

we must place priority of healthcare access to populations most

effected. This is of significance because educating people who

are infected with HIV will give them the opportunity to make

significant behavior changes to improve their health and reduce

the risk of transmitting HIV to their partners. “more than 50

percent of new HIV infections occur as a result of the 21

percent of people who have HIV but do not know it”(Healthy

People) Partenerships among health departments, community based

organizations and social service providers can cultivate an

increased availabilty of comprehensive services for people living

with HIV. Our focus as nurse educators must continue to be on

encouragement for treatment such as antiretrovirals, mental

health, STD screenings, and providing prevention services for

their partners.

As with all roles in life, our role in nursing is ever

changing. We must emcompass preventive and comminity based care

in and out of traditional settings. We must meet the expectations

of our patients to help them help themselves. It is improtant

that we continue to strive for more active and efficient

participation in the prevention of disease and the promotion of

health.
 Health Promotion 8

References

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2006, August 4).

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines 2006.

Retrieved April 23, 2011, from

http://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/2006/cancer-screening.htm

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, April 14).

GYT: Get Yourself Tested Campaign. Retrieved April 23, 2011,

from http://www.cdcnpin.org/stdawareness/gyt.aspx

Edelman, C. L., & Mandle, C. L. (2010). Health Promotion

Throughout the Life Span (7th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby.

Healthy People . (2010). 2020 Topics & Objectives>HIV.

Healthy People 2020. (2010). Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Retrieved April 23, 2011, from

http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjective2020/overvi

ew.aspx?topicid=22
Health Promotion 9