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.