A qualitative study exploring the relationship between nursing and health promotion language, theory and practice

The definitions and meaning qualified nurses employed in an acute NHS hospital setting in the UK gave to health education and health promotion practice and how these fitted established language and theory were investigated qualitatively. These concepts, and the concomitant frameworks and models of practice, have been the subject of considerable debate in the literature. While unresolved both in general and in nursing, a degree of theoretical convergence was established in the 1990s [Bunton, R., Macdonald, G., 1992. Health promotion: disciplines and diversity. Routledge, London; Maben, J.M., Macleod Clark, J. 1995. Health promotion: a concept analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing 22, 1158–165] helped by The Ottawa Charter [WHO, 1986. Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. http://www.who.int/hpr/archive/docs/ottawa.html]. For many of the participants in this study however, the meanings given to these concepts and the predominant use of health education were inconsistent with much of the language of the wider debate and this has potential implications for nurse education. For, if the findings are considered transferable then there is a need to develop education strategies and curricula that articulate the ideological foundations of policy and practice and to use mainstream terminology to assist nurses both to understand and contribute to the contemporary health promotion debate.