Nursing Theory Analysis Paper
Nursing Theory Analysis
Isaiah G. Wachira
American Sentinel University
N505 PE Theoretical Foundations
July 27, 2014
Dr. Kehm
Nursing Theory Analysis
Nursing Theory Analysis – Health Belief Model and Social Cognitive Theory
Introduction As nurses, it is important to have a basic understanding of the nursing practice by reflecting on various nursing theories and principles used across a variety of clinical settings. Nursing theories serve as the foundation or the guiding principle of the nursing profession. In this paper, I am going to discuss two theories – the Health Belief Model and the Social Cognitive Theory – and their relevance to the nursing practice.
Health Belief Model
The Health Belief Model, commonly abbreviated as HBM, …show more content…
It has been utilized to describe various health protective activities within the primary, secondary, and tertiary level of health care. This framework serves as the basis for helping individuals engage in primary and secondary illness prevention. For instance, when nurses provide specific instructions to educate individuals that diseases could be prevented, this is part of the primary prevention that is associated with increasing the health-promoting activities of the population. If the nurse, on the other hand, educates an ill patient about how a certain disease should be treated, and the things to be avoided to prevent the disease from getting worse, this is part of the secondary level of prevention that is associated with preventing negative health conditions (Thurmond & Popkess-Vawter, …show more content…
Among these five factors, the most important factor for behavior acquisition is the modeling/learning process. That is very important for the nursing profession. According to the Social Cognitive Theory, effective modeling educates strategies and general rules necessary for dealing with various life situations (Bandura, 2009). This is similar to how the student nurses learn nursing skills during their college years. When student nurses started working with their clinical instructors, who are registered and practicing nurses, they are being taught new nursing methods so that they could learn how to deal with different nursing roles and practices in a wide range of health care settings and patient populations (Miller, 2005). The Social Cognitive Theory serves as a guide for student nurses to acquire new nursing skills they could use in their profession. For example, student nurses learn the importance of hand washing and sterile gloving technique before engaging in surgeries from their nurse instructors. But they could not learn the proper technique of hand washing and gloving if their instructors would not imitate or demonstrate the step-by-step method of doing it (Bandura, 2009). This is a good example of learned behavior through direction observation of another individual, which is one of the core concepts of the
Isaiah G. Wachira
American Sentinel University
N505 PE Theoretical Foundations
July 27, 2014
Dr. Kehm
Nursing Theory Analysis
Nursing Theory Analysis – Health Belief Model and Social Cognitive Theory
Introduction As nurses, it is important to have a basic understanding of the nursing practice by reflecting on various nursing theories and principles used across a variety of clinical settings. Nursing theories serve as the foundation or the guiding principle of the nursing profession. In this paper, I am going to discuss two theories – the Health Belief Model and the Social Cognitive Theory – and their relevance to the nursing practice.
Health Belief Model
The Health Belief Model, commonly abbreviated as HBM, …show more content…
It has been utilized to describe various health protective activities within the primary, secondary, and tertiary level of health care. This framework serves as the basis for helping individuals engage in primary and secondary illness prevention. For instance, when nurses provide specific instructions to educate individuals that diseases could be prevented, this is part of the primary prevention that is associated with increasing the health-promoting activities of the population. If the nurse, on the other hand, educates an ill patient about how a certain disease should be treated, and the things to be avoided to prevent the disease from getting worse, this is part of the secondary level of prevention that is associated with preventing negative health conditions (Thurmond & Popkess-Vawter, …show more content…
Among these five factors, the most important factor for behavior acquisition is the modeling/learning process. That is very important for the nursing profession. According to the Social Cognitive Theory, effective modeling educates strategies and general rules necessary for dealing with various life situations (Bandura, 2009). This is similar to how the student nurses learn nursing skills during their college years. When student nurses started working with their clinical instructors, who are registered and practicing nurses, they are being taught new nursing methods so that they could learn how to deal with different nursing roles and practices in a wide range of health care settings and patient populations (Miller, 2005). The Social Cognitive Theory serves as a guide for student nurses to acquire new nursing skills they could use in their profession. For example, student nurses learn the importance of hand washing and sterile gloving technique before engaging in surgeries from their nurse instructors. But they could not learn the proper technique of hand washing and gloving if their instructors would not imitate or demonstrate the step-by-step method of doing it (Bandura, 2009). This is a good example of learned behavior through direction observation of another individual, which is one of the core concepts of the