Community Health Nursing Overview

Community Health Nursing

• Definition: Community health nursing is a combination of nursing and public health practices focused on preserving and improving the health of populations.
• Philosophy: Seeks to promote well-being, prevent illness, and restore health at the individual, family, and community level.
• Principles: Community health nursing emphasizes collaboration, participation, and empowerment, utilizing existing resources to achieve health goals.
• Theoretical Models: These models provide frameworks for understanding and addressing health issues in communities.
  • Health Belief Model: Focuses on individual perceptions of susceptibility, severity, benefits, barriers, and health value to guide health-related behaviors.
    • Developed in the 1950s to understand why people fail to engage in preventive health actions.
    • Emphasizes personal threat or risk and the benefits of taking action.
  • Milio’s Framework for Prevention: Explores the relationship between health behaviors and environmental factors, including socioeconomic and political factors.
    • Proposes that changes in societal structures and resources are necessary for improving population health.
  • Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model: Emphasizes individual factors, including knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and self-efficacy, for promoting health behaviors.
    • Identifies three main factors influencing health choices: individual characteristics, behavior-specific cognitions, and situational influences.
  • Lawrence Green’s PRECEDE-PROCEED Model: A comprehensive framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating health programs.
    • PRECEDE (Predisposing, Reinforcing, and Enabling Constructs in Educational Diagnosis and Evaluation) focuses on identifying the factors influencing health behaviors.
    • PROCEED (Policy, Regulatory, and Organizational Constructs in Educational and Environmental Development) emphasizes designing interventions based on PRECEDE analysis.

School Health Nursing

• Role: Supports the health and well-being of students, staff, and school communities.
• Key Activities:
  • Assessment: Identifying health needs and risks.
  • Planning: Developing programs and interventions to address needs.
  • Implementation: Delivering health services, such as immunizations, screenings, and health education.
  • Evaluation: Assessing the effectiveness of programs and services.
  • Collaboration: Working with teachers, parents, and other healthcare professionals.

Occupational Health Nursing

• Focus: Protecting and promoting the health of workers in all types of workplaces.
• Key Areas:
  • Prevention: Identifying and mitigating workplace hazards.
  • Health Promotion: Encouraging healthy behaviors and reducing risk factors.
  • Treatment: Providing first aid and emergency care.
  • Case Management: Helping workers access necessary care and return to work safely.

Community Mental Health Nursing

• Core Principle: Individuals with mental health conditions should receive treatment and support in their communities.
• Goals:
  • Promoting mental health and well-being.
  • Preventing mental health disorders and managing existing conditions.
  • Reducing stigma and discrimination.
  • Facilitating access to care and recovery.
• Key Activities:
  • Early intervention and assessment.
  • Individual and group therapy.
  • Crisis intervention.
  • Advocacy for improved mental health services.
  • Collaboration with other professionals and community organizations.

This quiz provides an overview of community health nursing, highlighting its definition, philosophy, and core principles. It also examines theoretical models like the Health Belief Model and Milio’s Framework for Prevention, essential for understanding health issues in communities. Test your knowledge and understanding of these crucial public health concepts.