Health Promotion Overview Essay

Nurses can play an essential role in helping the patients who are affected by chronic diseases. In particular, one should consider those individuals who struggle with diabetes. This disorder is incurable and serious, but it can be treated (American Diabetes Association, 2013). Apart from the stress caused by the fact of , it leads to permanent changes in a persons lifestyle, which is often difficult to cope with. A nurse, however, can and should assist a patient with such a disease. The following actions of a nurse can promote the state of a patient with diabetes.

Promotion One
First and foremost, nurses are the source of accurate information for their patients. In case of diabetes, this includes (but is not restricted to) the information about suitable lifestyle or proper insulin usage (Modic et al., 2014, p. 157). For example, the intensiveness of insulin therapy depends on the type of diabetes. Similarly, nurses should inform patients about the diet that they have to follow (Modic et al., 2014, p. 161). Consequently, it is important for the nurse to stay informed about the latest trends in caregiving Modic et al., 2014, p. 160)

Promotion Two
Secondly, the nurse of a diabetes patient should promote his or her self-management. For this disease, self-management includes adhering to a prescribed medical regimen and making lifestyle behavior changes (Kaakinen, Coehlo, Steele, Tabacco, & Hanson, 2015, p. 250). The latter is often one of the most difficult things, especially for children (Kaakinen et al., p. 244). The problem is that the patient should be able to perform the necessary actions without the nurses supervision. Self-management, therefore, requires motivation that can hardly be achieved only by providing the accurate information. It would be impossible to define a single way of solving this problem since its particular elements depend very much on the personal qualities of every patient and his or her circumstances. Still, a couple of guidelines could be suggested. First of all, it appears that the nurse needs to establish a certain level of trust with the patient that will be extended to the prescriptions and advice provided. Secondly, the nurse needs to be sensitive both to the patient and his or her environment to determine the line of action that should encourage self-management. Promoting the persons self-efficacy, for example, could help in certain cases (Kaakinen et al., p. 250). Finally, the nurse should include and involve the patients family into the process: it is obvious, that the closest people can become a source of support and hope for a .

Promotion Three
The family of the patient is another concern of the nurse that has long been recognized. For example, in 1990, a Family Management Style Framework was developed by Deatrick and Knafl (Kaakinen et al., 242). Even though this Framework was mostly concerned with the needs of the families with a chronically ill child, it is obvious that the idea of assessing the mood of the patient and his or her surroundings is crucial for a nurse. Upon assessing it, the nurse may move on to defining the problematic issues of every particular case. It should be remembered that the illness is a great stress for the family as well. Still, in the end, it is the closest people who can truly support chronically ill relatives. Helping the family adapt to the new circumstances is, therefore, one of the most important aspects of a nurses work (Kaakinen et al., p. 251).

Conclusion
In case of chronic diseases, the state of patients can and should be promoted by the actions of their nurse. In the event of diabetes, the primary aim consists in helping the patients to manage their disease most effectively. This can be achieved by providing accurate and , encouraging the patients self-management and supporting the family of the ill person to adapt and participate in the process of treatment.