Authors

Emily Haynes

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Document Type

Major Paper

School

School of Nursing

Department

Nursing

Abstract

The health status of Americans ranks poorly compared to other nations. The health behaviors of American nurses are worse than the general population. Healthy Nurse Health Nation (HNHN) is the American Nurses’ Association’s (ANA’s) program to encourage healthy lifestyle practices among nurses with the ultimate goal of improving population health by creating a healthier nursing workforce able to be more credible as health coaches. This paper reviews literature on workplace and college health programs, health behaviors of nurses and student nurses, and the idea of nurses as role models. The Logic Model was used to guide implementation of the program and the Ecological Model was used for evaluating the project. This project promoted HNHN in a college setting through in person presentations. Thirty-two students and faculty completed retrospective pre/post surveys, and results showed small self-reported changes in participation. There was an increase from five to 10 members of the RIC HNHN online group. Limitations included limited contact between the researchers and participants, reliance on university email for communication, a lack of graduate student data, and a lack of changes to the environment. The author recommends increasing contact between the researchers and students/faculty and making changes to the environment to make healthy choices the default option. The role of the advanced practice nurse is discussed and includes implications for practice related to education, practice, policy, and research.

Download

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS