Health Promoting Behaviors Among Working Public Health Nurses

A quantitative, descriptive research study is being conducted to assess the health promoting behaviors of public health nurses (PHNs) in two California public health departments. One of the PHN roles is to teach clients about health promotion, so it is helpful to assess their actual practices. The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II) has been used in many research studies with a variety of populations. However, the wellbeing of public health nurses has not been studied. This tool is based on Pender's (1996) mid-range theory of health promotion. Health promotion is different than simply prevention of disease, but is a proactive, goal-directed behavior that improves health and wellbeing. Potential participants will be invited by email to complete a 52-item survey (HPLP II) and a 10-item demographic form including age, ethnicity, gender, education, PHN certification, years in nursing, area of PHN practice (e.g., general, immunizations), and current height/weight. These will be accessed through Survey Monkeyİ. Follow up email reminders will be sent out at two and four weeks to promote full participation. Permission from the university IRB and both Kern County Department of Public Health (Director of Public Health Nursing) and Fresno County Department of Public Health (Director of Public Health Nursing) have been obtained. Information from this research will be helpful in comparing the health promoting behaviors of Public Health Nurses to other groups that have been studied, and should provide a foundation on which to strengthen the environmental influences to promote positive health behaviors for public health nurses.