Application Of The Health Belief Model. The Chosen Case

Wound management is one of the cornerstones for nursing care however, effective wound care extends far beyond the application of the wound itself. Nurses may be required to assess, plan, implement, and evaluate wound care; therefore, order to fill these roles it’s critical to have an understanding of the several different areas of wound care such as, integumentary system, classification of wounds, wound procedures, and documentation. Knowledge in each of these areas will allow nurses to make well informed decisions about wound care, and as a result play an active part in wound healing.

Population-(P) Inpatients receiving wound care. Intervention- (I) Wound Care Education for Health Care Provider. Comparison- (C) Usual care by a healthcare provider who has not participated in wound care education. Outcomes- (O) Improving wound care skills among healthcare providers, alleviation of pain resulting from improperly treated wounds, speedy healing of wounds. Time- (T) 6 months. The project will seek to establish the level which continued or frequent wound care education for health care providers, especially the nurses would facilitate the

A) There are several issues in the case of Mr. J that need to be examined. Using nurse sensitive indicators “reflect patient outcomes that are determined to be nursingsensitive because they depend on the quality or quantity of nursing care” (American Sentinel University, 2011). Mr. J. was not receiving acceptable care, because his daughter noticed a red, depressed area over Mr. J’s lower spine, similar to a severe sunburn. This skin condition is the first stage of a developing pressure ulcer. a. Nurses should be aware that a patient with limited mobility is at risk for skin breakdown, and pressure ulcers.

The Health Belief Model is commonly used for health promotion and health education. Its’ underlying concept is that health behavior is explained by perception of the disease and the strategies available to lower its occurrence. There are four perceptions of the HBM, which are perceived seriousness, perceived benefit, perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers. In addition to that, more constructs are added to health belief model that includes motivating factor, cues to action and self-efficacy. Each of these constructs in combination or individually, could be used to determine health behavior. The HBM also provides guidelines for the program development allowing planners to address reasons for non-compliance with recommended health action. The health belief model is a process used to promote healthy behavior among individuals who may be at risk of developing adverse health outcomes. A person must gauge their perceptions of severity and susceptibility of developing a disease. Then it is essential to feel vulnerable by these perceptions. Environmental factors can play a role as well as cues to action such as media, and close friends. In order to determine that taking action will be meaningful, the benefits to change must be weighed, against the barriers to change behavior (Green & Murphy, 2014).

The assessment of the patient’s care needs is based on the type of infection. As such, nurses have the responsibility of providing a high quality health care to the patients. The postoperative assessment involves assessing the patient’s perceptions related to behavior and physiologic responses. It also involves the monitoring of the pain from the patient during the treatment period based on the operations performed. In postoperative assessment, the patient’s wound is monitored in relation to the healing frequency, pain felt, and the availability of some foreign substances like the body discharges. Obtaining the information relating to post operative assessment ensures that the patient is well taken care of by the nurse after operations, and avoids incidences of other circumstances that might hinder quick healing (Grocott, 2007). Once the patient gathers the information concerning the postoperative assessment, then a decision is made whether to seek medication from the same hospital or look for other alternatives. In the case of Sophie, it was clear that the nurses were not keen in following the postoperative assessment, therefore, causing the wound to obtain infections.

Over the last century, registered nurses' participation in wound management has actually varied from that of following rigorous dressing routines to autonomous practice (Moore, 1997). In the past, nurse education frequently enhanced the overall results at the time. An adherence to apprenticeship-style learning, where registered nurses frequently had minimal knowledge of the results of the dressing they were putting on a wound, contributed considerably to a theory-practice space or gap of research in wound management. Registered nurses were not actively associated with the decision-making procedure (Madsen, 1999).

The Health Belief Model (HBM) of health behaviour change was originally developed in the 1950s in order to understand and explain why vaccination and screening programs being implemented at the time were not meeting with success (Edberg 2007). It was later extended to account for preventive health actions and illness behaviours (Roden 2004). Succinctly, it suggests that behaviour change is influenced by an individuals’ assessment of the benefits and achievability of the change versus the cost of it (Naidoo and Wills 2000).

It is crucial for nursing personnel to have knowledge of the intrinsic factors as well as simple measures than can be taken to prevent wounds becoming infected. Strategies to decrease infection risks should be included as part of a wound management regimen.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), 2.5 million patients are affected by pressure ulcers and incur costs anywhere from $9.1 billion to $11.6 billion per year in the United States (AHRQ, 2014). As of October 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will not reimburse hospitals for cases in which the pressure ulcer was acquired after admission (CMS, 2008). Because of this high cost, the number of patients affected each year, and insurances no longer reimbursing hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPU), an accurate skin assessment upon admission is critical to reduce costs, ease pain in patients, and lower incidences of pressure ulcers. This paper will address what leadership and management skills and functions are required of a wound care nurse who identifies a problem with the accuracy of skin assessments on newly admitted patients.

In the 1950’s the health belief model (HBM) was introduced to explain why people who are healthy, continue to participate in activities that keep them free of illness; while others neglect to be involved with healthy activities (Pender, Murdaugh, & Parsons, 2015). PubMed was used to find this article with the limitations of an article written in the last five years, humans, and English; the Mesh words used was health belief model. The article Applying the health belief model to college students’ health behavior, written by Kim, Ahn, and No, in 2012, reviews the study done to explain the use of HBM on college students and healthy students. This paper will discuss the use of the health belief model, in college students, to determine if their knowledge of nutrition will affect their healthy behaviors.

Data collection was from the questionnaire that consisted of questions related to experience background, training for wound and wound care, responsibilities and in regards to wound care guidelines, including the wound registration form. This was collected in Monday through Friday within a week.

When the pressure, is not frequently relived, the damage is caused and a pressure ulcer occurs. Judy waterlow (1985) introduced the Waterlow Score, whilst working as a clinical nurse, she designed this as a tool for her students to use as a guidance, for a risk assessment tool, to help in maintaining skin integrity. Waterlow (1985) suggests, that as a nurse professional, we can only use this as a guide, we must also use our own judgment, in defining the risks of the patient in our care. The cost implications to treatment of pressure ulcer care is expensive, costing the national healthcare service provider millions, with additional longer stay in hospital, the cost of each pressure ulcer and even reconstructive surgery, also with the additional suffering, of the patient at hand, the importance of minimizing the risks to pressure ulcer prevention, is imperative. Not only to bring, the costs down, but to serve our public, to the best of, our ability, in bringing excellence, in the care provided (Dziedzic, 2014).

Both the health belief model (HBM) and theories of reasoned action/planned behavior (TRA/TPB) are two model that has their root from psychology. Both models rely on social cognition as a mechanism to change individuals’ behaviors. Opponent criticizes the models for being unable to target social influence outside of an individual and overlook difference between target audiences.

When considering health psychology it is important to recognise the various models it is made up of. The basis of this essay will be to take a look at the health belief model and the theory of planned behaviour, considering their historical origins, the positives and negatives of applying these approaches and examples of when they have been used. After some analysis it may offer some insight into possible improvements that could be implemented from further research. Also included will be an overview of how the models compare to each other and critical evaluation of research from this field.

The Health Belief Model (HBM) is one of the first theories of health behavior. It was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists in the U.S. Public Health Services to better understand the widespread failure of tuberculosis screening programs. Today it continues to be one of the most widely used theories. Research studies use it to explain and predict health behaviors seen in individuals. There is a broad range of health behaviors and subject populations that it is applied in. The concepts in the model involve perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of individuals being studied create an understanding of their