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Book review - Health Promotion in Nursing Practice

Article  in  Journal of Clinical Nursing · December 2007

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01886.x

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 Book Review
Edited by Dean Whitehead
Health Promotion in Nursing Practice
by Nola Pender, Carolyn Murdaugh and
Mary-Ann Parsons, 5th edn. 2006.
Pearson – Prentice Hall, Saddle River,
NJ, USA. ISBN 013119 4364. 367pp.
US$ 43.95.
This is the fifth edition of this seminal
health promotion title for nursing. The
original author, Nola Pender, remains
principal author. This book though, we
find out in the foreword and preface,
notes the current retirement of Nola
Pender after a long period of service to
the cause of health promotion and
health education in nursing practice.
Prior to reviewing this text, I really
wanted to have good things to say
about it, as there are not too many
good quality nursing-related health
promotion books out there. On the
completion of reading this book I can
say that there is much to commend
about it but, at the same time, this
needs to be tempered against some
poorer points. I am the first to admit
that I have been openly critical of Nola
Pender’s work – and in particular her
Health Promotion Model (Whitehead
2005). To me, this model and Nola
Pender’s research is far more represen-
tative of conventional health education
processes and not health promotion.
This said, and whether this might be
the influence of the other authors of
this book, health promotion elements
are more notable and visible than in
previous editions.
144
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This book is well-written, well-struc-
tured and presents the process of health
education and health promotion in a
systematic manner. Its main flaw, for a
health promotion book, is its predom-
inant focus on health education. Despite
this main focus, and a major omission
for any text on health promotion, the
term health education is never used.
Contrary to the vast majority of con-
ceptual health promotion and health
education literature, these authors use
health promotion as a catch-all phrase
to mean any health-related activity.
The content then, as already stated,
has a health education structure and
process as its main focus. This is aptly
demonstrated in several ways. Chapter 2
on ‘individual models to promote health
behaviour’ is devoted entirely to the
socio-cognitive models of health beha-
viour (including Pender’s Health
Promotion Model) associated with con-
ventional health education process.
Chapters 3 through to 10 follow in
much the same mode as Chapter 2 –
focusing on individualized health assess-
ment and planning against mainly
physical health-related constructs. I real-
ize that much of this book will be
founded on the major influences of a
conventional US public health model,
which has often been criticized as being
out of step with much of the interna-
tional health promotion community.
This then, represents another limitation
of the text. There is, as you might
expect, a heavy US emphasis in the
Ó 2008 The Author. Journal Compilation Ó 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
book that may not seem so relevant to
readers in other countries. It is not until
the last two ‘short’ chapters in this book
that the reader encounters ‘health pro-
motion in community settings’ and ‘pro-
moting health through social and
environmental change’ as more repre-
sentative examples of what health pro-
motion more appropriately aspires to in
today’s context.
Despite my stated reservations, I still
view this text for what it is; a solid
account of health-related structures and
processes as they pertain to nursing
theory, policy and practice. If you
favour behaviourally orientated health
education approaches over wider health
promotion, then this book represents a
literary feast. If you favour wider health
promotion approaches this is not so
much the case, but you may still enjoy
the offered meal – albeit a contextually
flawed one.
Reference
Whitehead D (2005) Editorial letter – A cri-
tique of Pender’s health promotion model.
Research in Nursing & Health 28, 357–
359.
Dean Whitehead
Senior Lecturer
Massey University
Palmerston North
New Zealand
E-mail: d.whitehead@massey.ac.nz
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2006.01886.x