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Biomedical subjects

Dean Whitehead

Publications and source records attributed to Dean Whitehead.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Reviewing health promotion in nursing education.

The [World Health Organisation, 2000. Nurse and Midwives for Health: A WHO European Strategy for Nursing and Midwifery Education. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen] European Strategy for Nursing and Midwifery Education calls for the explicit inclusion and application of health promotion in all nursing curricula. Prior to this strategy, and subsequently, studies have explored the nature and extent of health promotion in nursing education. This article extensively reviews this body of literature. Overall, the literature, both included in this review and its supporting discussion, presents a picture suggesting that the call for effective inclusion of health promotion has in many cases gone unheeded. The literature also identifies that the educational delivery of broader elements of health promotion is muted in comparison to the 'traditional' constructs of health education. Considerations for wider reform, born out of the literature, are presented.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2006

The health-promoting school: what role for nursing?

AIM: To review the existing literature on health-promoting schools and put forward recommendations for continuing progress. BACKGROUND: The World Health Organisation's Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 1986 sought to create a framework for health promotion action that conveyed the notion of capacity building as it related to specific settings. It provided the catalyst from which the health-promoting school movement emerged, against the backdrop of health professionals adapting to the changing needs and demands of clients and the evolving social context of the communities in which they live. Since then, the international health-promoting school movement has been one of the most successful of the settings-based projects and has expanded considerably over recent years. METHOD: An extensive review of available health-promoting school-related literature provides the basis for critical discussion and recommendations. FINDINGS: Traditionally, the school nursing movement has provided the backbone of nursing-related health promotion activity in the school setting. The literature, however, is generally critical of its contribution over the years - especially as its role is mainly confined to a 'conventional' health education function and has little to do with health-promoting school projects. There are more and more calls now for the school nursing service to either re-evaluate its function and processes or be devolved back into a broader primary health care practitioner role. CONCLUSION: Nurses should view the health-promoting school movement as another opportunity to embrace evolving broad-based health promotion concepts truly, as a means to forge and own their own health agenda and also as a means to move beyond a traditional reliance on a limited health education role. Schools also need to adapt and expand their efforts to focus on health promotion activities, in collaboration with the ever-widening community networks of health and social agencies. This requires the commitment of all healthcare professional groups. Nurses who practice in all settings, and not just school nurses, should be aiming to initiate and promote radical health promotion reform as set out in the health-promoting school movement. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: If health professionals wish to be at the forefront of current health-promoting school strategies they must embrace the radical health promotion reforms that are emerging from the current literature and put forward in this article. Building such group capacity, through developing social interaction, cohesion, participation and political action can only benefit the community at large and further emphasize the health promotion role of nursing. The health-promoting school movement is truly an international concept and, as such, deserves a concerted nursing representation and resourcing well beyond its current commitment.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2006

Workplace health promotion: the role and responsibility of health care managers.

The World Health Organization's (WHO) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 1986 provided the catalyst from which the Health Promoting Workplace movement emerged. Here, an extensive review of the available workplace-related health literature provides the basis for critical discussion and recommendations for health care managers. The findings suggest that health care managers, who practice in all health service settings, should be aiming to initiate and promote radical health promotion reform as set out in the WHO settings-based movement. Developing and implementing sustainable health promotion-orientated and organization-wide healthy workplace policy initiatives represent the most effective way for health care managers to directly benefit from the desirable outcomes that come from creating and maintaining a healthy workforce.

Health Promotion↗
PubMed2006

Health promotion in the practice setting: findings from a review of clinical issues.

BACKGROUND: Many agencies over the last few decades have called for the explicit inclusion and application of health promotion in all aspects of nursing practice. This article reviews the body of empirical (research-based) and theoretical (conceptual) literature addressing health promotion in nursing clinical practice, to uncover its nature, intention, and impact. APPROACH: The aim of this review was to identify from the nursing literature what is reported on in relation to health promotion activity, both theoretical and clinical in the practice setting. An extensive review identified that literature pertaining to these issues clustered around the categories of: theorising and conceptualising the meaning and purpose of health promotion in nursing practice, the development and testing of tools and models for practice, and the exploration of attitudes, behaviours, roles and functions of nurses and health professionals in practice. FINDINGS: Against more recent trends in health promotion, the literature shows that broader and wide-ranging health promotion reform has yet to have universal impact, whereas conventional health education activities remain the mainstay for the majority of "health promotion" activities in nursing practice. Where nurses purport to be conducting "health promotion" they are often conducting behavioural, lifestyle, and risk-orientated health education. The findings of this review therefore support the notion that much of nursing-related health practice is firmly located in reactive ill health and disease risk-specific preventive locations, instead of incorporating and instilling broader societal, economic, ecological, and political dimensions of health promotion. Recommendations for wider reform, developed from personal opinion and supported by the literature, are presented. CONCLUSIONS: It is argued that nursing bodies, as well as individual nurses themselves, should seek current health promotion locations in nursing practice, and find effective ways to implement health promotion strategies and, subsequently, equip practitioners with the necessary resources and skills to engage with other health promotion agencies. Future research should be aimed at implementing and evaluating broad health promotion processes.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2005

The Health Promoting Prison (HPP) and its imperative for nursing.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion in 1986 provided the catalyst from which the Health Promoting Prison (HPP) movement emerged. Here, an extensive review of the available prison-related health literature provides the basis for critical discussion and recommendations for nursing services and prison-related health care. The findings suggest that current prison-based nursing services are seriously neglected and woefully lacking in structure and resources. This article recommends strategies for reform that includes nurses who practice in all settings, and not just prison-based nurses. If nurses wish to be at the forefront of future HPP strategies, they must first embrace the radical health promotion reforms that are emerging from the current literature. Building sustainable group capacity into prison-based health care, through developing social interaction, cohesion, participation and political action can only benefit the community at large and further emphasise the health promotion role of nursing.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2005

Project management and action research: two sides of the same coin?

PURPOSE: To put forward the, to date, unidentified viewpoint that organisational action research and project management have many shared properties--making it a useful exercise to compare and contrast them in relation to organisational management structures and strategies. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A conceptual exploration, drawing on a wide range of supporting literature, is used here. FINDINGS: Project management represents a mainstay strategy for much of the organisational research seen in health care management--and has done for many years. More recently, the exploratory literature on project management has identified many limitations--especially when matched against "traditional" examples. Many health services have witnessed a more recent organisational management drive to seek out alternative strategies that incorporate less hierarchical and more participatory research methods. Action research certainly fits this bill and, on further examination, can be incorporated into a project management ethos and vice versa. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: The views expressed here are of a theoretical construct and have not been implemented, as they are presented in this paper, in practice. The intention, however, is to do so in some of the author's future studies. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: If the management of health service organisations are to evolve to incorporate desirable structures that promote consumer-oriented empowerment and participation (where the consumers also include the workforce), then having a wider array of research tools at one's disposal is one way of facilitating this. Incorporating action research principles into project management approaches, or the other way round, or marrying them both to form a "hybrid" research strategy--it is argued here--represents an appropriate and representative way forward for future organisational management studies. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: In terms of originality, this represents a conceptual piece of work that puts forward constructs that have, to date, not featured in the health care literature. Its value lies in suggesting further options for organisational-oriented health care research.

Health Services Research↗
PubMed2005

Health promoting hospitals: the role and function of nursing.

BACKGROUND: In 1986, the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion sought to create a framework that conveyed the notion of capacity building, related to specific settings, and a structured process for health promotion action. It provided the platform from which the health promoting hospital movement was later launched. Nearly two decades on, the health promoting hospital (HPH) movement has grown considerably and continues to expand, against the backdrop of having to adapt to the changing needs and demands of clients and the evolving social context of their communities. Many nurses, it is argued here, are often unaware of health promoting hospitals concepts or, when they are, do little to contribute to them. METHOD: A critical review of the available health promoting hospital and related literature has been conducted for discussion. FINDINGS: The literature revealed that hospitals are being urged to reject practices based purely on health-limiting and limited biomedical frameworks, in favour of moving towards models based on health promoting hospitals and public health-orientated hospitals. This requires radical reform that focuses on the social and health policy context of organizations, the socio-political empowerment of its employers and clients, and the personal/collective positive health and welfare of its employers and clients. Many health service agencies are beginning to emphasize population health within communities as part of a concerted move away from an original primary focus on acute inpatient hospital-based service provision. CONCLUSION: Hospitals need to adapt and expand their efforts to focus on health promotion activities, in collaboration with the ever-widening community networks of health and social agencies. This requires the commitment of all health care professional groups. Nurses who practice in the hospital setting should be aiming to initiate and promote radical health promotion reform as set out in the health promoting hospital movement. This paper argues that nursing per se could be making much larger inroads and efforts to affect and implement wide-ranging health promotion activities in hospital organizations. Nurses should view the HPH movement as another opportunity truly to embrace evolving broad-based health promotion concepts, as a means to forge and own their own health agenda, and also as a means to move beyond the traditional reliance of a limited health education role. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Hospitals and their employees must be seen to advocate, support and implement wide-reaching social and community-based reform, as part of a necessary commitment to 'seamless' health care provision. The health promoting hospital movement represents a collective vehicle for enabling such activities. If nurses wish to be at the forefront of current health service strategies they must be seen to embrace the radical health promotion reforms that are emerging from the current literature and put forward in this article.

Health Care Reform↗