Health Promotion in Health Care – Vital Theories and Research

This open access textbook represents a vital contribution to global health education, offering insights into health promotion as part of patient care for bachelor’s and master’s students in health care (nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, radiotherapists, social care workers etc.) as well as health care professionals, and providing an overview of the field of health science and health promotion for PhD students and researchers. 

Written by leading experts from seven countries in Europe, America, Africa and Asia, it first discusses the theory of health promotion and vital concepts. It then presents updated evidence-based health promotion approaches in different populations (people with chronic diseases, cancer, heart failure, dementia, mental disorders, long-term ICU patients, elderly individuals, families with newborn babies, palliative care patients) and examines different health promotion approaches integrated into primary care services. 

Thisedited scientific anthology provides much-needed knowledge, translating research into guidelines for practice. Today’s medical approaches are highly developed; however, patients are human beings with a wholeness of body-mind-spirit. As such, providing high-quality and effective health care requires a holistic physical-psychological-social-spiritual model of health care is required. A great number of patients, both in hospitals and in primary health care, suffer from the lack of a holistic oriented health approach: Their condition is treated, but they feel scared, helpless and lonely. Health promotion focuses on improving people’s health in spite of illnesses. Accordingly, health care that supports/promotes patients’ health by identifying their health resources will result in better patient outcomes: shorter hospital stays, less re-hospitalization, being better able to cope at home and improved well-being, which in turn lead to lower health-care costs. 

This scientificanthology is the first of its kind, in that it connects health promotion with the salutogenic theory of health throughout the chapters. the authors here expand the understanding of health promotion beyond health protection and disease prevention. The book focuses on describing and explaining salutogenesis as an umbrella concept, not only as the key concept of sense of coherence. 

Gørill Haugan graduated as a registered nurse (RN) in 1984. Currently, she works as a professor in health science at NTNU Department of public health and nursing, Faculty of medicine and health in Norway. Professor Haugan has been working as an academician since 1989, educating a great number of post-graduate health care students. As a part of NTNU Center for health promotion research, she takes actively part in a wide range of research studies on health promotion. Accordingly, professor Haugan is widely published in the field of health promotion among different populations, such as nursing home patients, long-term intensive care patients, adolescents and postnatal women. In particular, she has investigated the influence of nurse-patient interaction, self-transcendence, hope, meaning-in-life and spirituality on nursing home patients’ well-being and quality of life. Currently, she is the project leader of the NCR (Norwegian Council of Research) funded research project “Healthpromotion – worthwhile? A reorientation of the municipality health care services”, as well as the project “Health promoting factors in joy-of-life nursing homes”. In collaboration with Warsaw Medical University, Haugan has been part of a study on healthy and active aging in Poland. Moreover, she has an established collaboration with different universities in Norway, Poland, Turkey, Singapore, China, Uganda, Malta, Belgium, Netherlands, and Bulgaria etc. Professor Haugan is supervising a number of PhD-projects focusing on different aspects of nursing home care. Furthermore, she supervises a research study exploring seriously ill patients’ ‘will-power’ during advanced long-term medical treatment and intensive care in ICU units. She also supervises nursing education research. Her research orientation includes qualitative and quantitative methods. Specifically, her research has contributed to the validation and investigation of the psychometric properties of a number of scales centralto nursing, health and well-being. Furthermore, she is the main editor of two Norwegian scientific anthologies on health promotion in the municipal health services and the specialized health services (Haugan & Rannestad 2014, 2016).

Monica Eriksson is Associate Professor in social policy (health promotion) at Åbo Akademi university Vasa, Finland. Current position as Senior Professor in public health and health promotion at University West, Department of Health Sciences, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden. Former Head of the Center on Salutogenesis, University West. Member of the Global Working Group on Salutogenesis 2007-2018. Defended a doctoral thesis in 2007, a systematic research synthesis, based on more than 450 scientific papers on studies using Antonovsky’s sense of coherence scale, title ”Unravelling the Mystery of Salutogenesis” (Eriksson 2007). Now continuing the analysis and following salutogenic research up to date. Main research focuses on salutogenesis in public health and health promotion research and practice where peoples’ abilities and resources are essential for health and wellbeing. The most recent research is  on salutogenic factors for sustainable working life for nurses. Previously worked as a hospital based social worker, operative director of an umbrella organization for people with disabilities, later as the Nordic investigator of mobility of people with disabilities. “My clinical experience and practice has convinced me the resource perspective of public health and health promotion is the way forward for both research and effective interventions”.