Images of health among hospital patients in Jordan: A qualitative study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine hospital patients' understanding of health and its cultural constructions in Jordan. Four focus group discussions were carried out with hospital patients. The findings showed three images of health among patients in Jordan with different complexity levels. This included health as the freedom from illness, health as being in good social and psychological wellbeing, health as being physically, psychologically, socially and economically satisfied. Gender related conceptualisation of health was associated with the role of men and women in the society. Hospital patients' understanding of health is diverse, multidimensional, and affected by their gender. Therefore, hospital nurses are urged to incorporate patients' conceptualisations of health and factors involved into the framework of the patient's daily care plan and health promotion activity. The study limitations and recommendations for practice and future research are also outlined.

A qualitative study of hospital patients' understanding of health promotion

“…The study findings suggest that hospital patients' understanding of health promotion is diverse and affected by situational factors and socio‐economic issues. This is consistent with the international literature and debate in health promotion (Seedhouse , Tones & Green , Shoqirat ). However, in this study, patients' conceptualisations of health promotion focused more on socio‐economic and political factors than on those reported in the previous studies.…”

“…Some of them ( n = 4) had problems from their previous admission with paying the cost of treatment. This stressful situation might inhibit individuals from reaching the self‐actualisation status (Shoqirat ). According to the stress model and its effect on health, the feeling of ability to control a situation is the most important factor for the re‐education of stress and enhancement of personal well‐being (Lazarus & Folkman ).…”

Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes towards Health Promotion At Al-Hussein Medical City in Kerbela

“…This seems to be influenced by personal experience. (20) .This finding was disagreed with Peltzer (2001) who stated that there was no significant association between nurses' knowledge about health promotion and clinical experience (16) Other results obtained from this table indicated that there was a significant relationship between nurses' knowledge and training at P≤ 0.05. Assaf (2004) mentioned that the health personnel must be trained to meet the community's health needs and become competent in their jobs.…”

“…In the present study it was found that the curriculum focused on behavioral change as opposed to health promotion addressing socio-economic issues. However the capability of health promotion depends on the knowledge and skills offered by the education (16) . Table (4) presents the relationship between nurses' knowledge about health promotion and their demographic characteristics.…”

What Is Being Promoted? Hospital Nurse Knowledge of Health in Jordan

“…What is striking, however, is that when hospital nurses' roles in health promotion are examined in research, the methodology is often based on the assumption that this knowledge is holistic and its determinants recognized (Shoqirat, ). Against this, growing evidence argues that health promoters, such as hospital nurses, are unlikely to improve health and bring about change unless they have adequate knowledge of the meaning of health and its cultural constructions (Hjelm, Bard, Nyberg, & Apelqvist, ; McLennan & Khavarpour, ; Shoqirat, ). Consequently, if patient health is to be promoted effectively, the concept of health needs to be understood from the perspective of care providers themselves.…”