Health promotion-fact or fiction?

Nursing Research and Treatment of Tobacco Dependence

Tobacco use is considered to be the single most preventable cause of premature morbidity and mortality among men and women. It is well documented that tobacco cessation reduces the burden of disease significantly and is cost effective. Efficacious therapy for tobacco dependence exists, and nurses have been shown to be effective tobacco cessation interventionists. Given the large number of nurses in the United States, nurses can influence national health objectives of reduced tobacco use significantly and help to decrease the number of adults at risk for tobacco-attributable disease and death. The objectives of this presentation are to (a) describe the scientific evidence for tobacco cessation interventions, based on the U.S. clinical practice guideline Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence; (b) present the meta-analytic findings of the efficacy of nursing interventions for smoking cessation; (c) discuss barriers to nursing research and tobacco interventions; and (d) provide future directions for nursing intervention research.

Health promotion behaviors and quality of life among community-dwelling elderly in Korea: A cross-sectional survey

As individuals live longer, health promotion behaviors become even more important, particularly with regard to maintaining functional independence and improving quality of life (QoL). The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health promotion behaviors and QoL in Korean elderly living in the community. This study was a descriptive-correlational study to explore the relationship between health promotion behaviors and QoL among the community-dwelling elderly in Korea. A convenience sample of 2000 community residents who were over 65 years old and cognitively intact were selected from 32 senior centers and 242 public health centers in Korea. A total of 1920 were included in the analyses, following the exclusion of 80 incomplete questionnaires and subject refusals. Participants who consented to participate in the study were interviewed by trained interviewers with a structured questionnaire. The results of the study showed that there were statistically significant differences in QoL of the elderly related to exercise participation, alcohol abstinence and blood pressure (BP) check-up (p<.05). Multiple regression analysis revealed that perceived health status, number of chronic illnesses, activities of daily living, BP checkup, exercise, and gender were statistically significant predictors of QoL. R(2) for this whole regression model was .412, indicating that approximately 41.2% of the variance in QoL was accounted for by the linear combination of these variables. Nurses should enhance the QoL in elderly persons by facilitating health promotion behaviors through formal nursing interventions which will maintain and increase a healthy and active life.