Empowering Community Health: An Educational Approach

Collaborative efforts among community members, health care professionals, and faith-based institutions can prove valuable in efforts to improve community health. This study used data obtained from before and after health risk assessment surveys to assess participant's knowledge of risk factors leading to chronic diseases among African Americans in an underserved community of Alabama. Data obtained from activity logs and health screening sessions was used to assess effect of knowledge gained on lifestyle practices. The study findings support the need for ongoing population-specific education program development in religious institutions located inside underserved communities.     

Changes in Nurse Practitioners' Knowledge and Behaviors Following Brief Training on the Healthy Eating and Activity Together (HEAT) Guidelines

IntroductionPrimary care providers, particularly pediatric nurse practitioners, are an integral force involved in tackling the obesity epidemic among youth. The majority of nurse practitioners, however, report low proficiency regarding their ability to adequately prevent and treat pediatric overweight. In response, the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) developed the evidence-based Healthy Eating and Activity Together (HEAT) Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) to improve provider behavior and efficacy.MethodThirty-five nurse practitioners attending the NAPNAP Annual Conference participated in an intensive 4-hour HEAT CPG training session. Pre-training and post-training data were collected on provider knowledge, practice behaviors, and barriers in relation to the prevention of overweight among youth.ResultsPost-training results revealed significant improvements in (a) practitioner knowledge (assessment of patient growth, family history, psychosocial functioning, nutrition, and physical activity); (b) practitioners' intent to improve behavior (i.e., increased intent to use behavior modification and counseling aimed at patient and family behavior change); and (c) practitioners' report of increased confidence in ability to address barriers.DiscussionStudy findings demonstrate preliminary support for the HEAT CPG as an effective tool aimed at helping providers to improve their ability to maintain patients' healthy weight. Future research is needed to verify the effects of HEAT CPG on long-term improvements in care.     

The impact of end-of-life curriculum content on the attitudes of associate degree nursing students toward death and care of the dying

Because end-of-life care competes with other nursing content for a place in the curriculum, nurse educators are challenged to select effective teaching strategies to prepare graduates to care for dying patients. An elective course using the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium curriculum was compared with a 3-hour lecture embedded in a larger medical–surgical course. Results suggested that both content-delivery methods positively impacted the attitude of students toward death and care of the dying to some extent; however, significant positive changes were noted in both intervention groups and in the control group that viewed the film Wit.