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Health Promotion And Disease Prevention

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In question one, I identify health promotion and disease prevention in the field of heart failure (HF) as my specific research focus. The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) cites the need to promote innovations that empower individuals to make decisions about their health and become personally involved in disease prevention and illness management (Research, 2011). Individuals with heart failure must maintain wellness and recognize signs of cardiac decompensation in order to respond promptly to threats of acute cardiac crisis (Riegel & Dickson, 2008). In the setting of HF, self-regulation describes the performance of these constructive behaviors that help preserve health and avoid illness (Horowitz, Rein, & Leventhal, 2004). In order to address the behavioral and cognitive factors that influence heart failure self-care, I have chosen the commonsense model of self-regulation (CSM) as the guiding theoretical model for my program of research (Howard Leventhal, Diefenbach, & Leventhal, 1992). Theoretical Model: The Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation The CSM depicts the behavior of patients as a product of a naturalistic decision-making based on their interpretation of a disease and its symptoms (Brissette, Leventhal, & Leventhal, 2003). The framework has been used to describe self-regulation behavior for a number of chronic conditions including hypertension (Kronish, Leventhal, & Horowitz, 2012), diabetes (Breland, McAndrew, Burns, Leventhal, & Leventhal,

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