Relationships Among Nurses’ Professional Self-Concept, Health, and Lifestyles

Abstract

According to the American Nurses Association, the entire profession of nursing exists to serve and improve society's health. Thus, to become a nurse, individuals must master a body of knowledge surrounding numerous health aspects. While acquiring the unique knowledge, skills, and values of their profession, nurses form perceptions of personal adequacy in their role, known as professional or nurse self-concept. Given the centrality of health to the profession, it would seem logical that nurses would personally value health and integrate core health behaviors into their professional self-concept and everyday lives. Yet the prevailing evidence leaves in question whether nurses associate their personal health and lifestyles with their professional roles. This article explores the relationships among nurse self-concept, health status, and healthy lifestyle practices in a sample of Midwestern nurses in an attempt to better understand if nurses who integrate healthy behaviors into their everyday lives feel a stronger sense of professional adequacy relative to nurses who do not.

A cross-sectional study of drinking patterns, prelicensure nursing education, and professional identity formation

“…This is particularly important to the future of nursing as the profession has been called on the profession to lead change in advancing health policy (Institute of Medicine, 2011). Yet, this study found that leadership was the weakest aspect of the students' professional self-concept, mirroring findings from studies of practicing nurses (Cowin, 2001;Cowin, & Hengstberger-Sims, 2006;Hensel, 2011). If this is true perhaps the greatest challenge for the profession is not how to teach professional values, but how to recruit pre-licensure candidates who will best contribute to nursing's preferred future.…”

“…Healthy lifestyle practices are a major focus of nursing education, and nurses who live such lifestyles have also been found to have a stronger sense of professional adequacy (Hensel, 2011). One study found that efforts to improve self-care also improved student nurses' intent to provide care consistent with national quality and safety standards (Riley, & Yearwood, 2012).…”

“…Professional identity has been theorized to be a key factor in providing high quality care to improve patient outcomes (Benner, Sutphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010;Cronenwett et al, 2007), and is thought to mediate the negative effects of a high stress workplace (Arthur & Randle, 2007;Hensel, 2011;& Siebens et al, 2006), improve clinical performance (Jahanbin, Badiyepeyma, Ghodsbin, Sharif, & Keshavarzi, 2012), and improve job retention (Cowin & Hengstberger-Sims, 2006;Cowin, Johnson, Craven, & Marsh, 2008). Professional identity formation is so important that the National League for Nursing ([NLN], 2010) has declared that it should be a universal outcome of all curricula from vocational nursing to research doctorate programs.…”

“…Meeting the public's health and social needs is one of nursing shared professional responsibilities (ICN, 2000), and personal lifestyles have been linked to nurses' perceptions of professional adequacy (Hensel, 2011;Riley & Yearwood, 2012). Yet, unhealthy lifestyle patterns that may start during pre-licensure education may have serious consequences for professional careers and health in later life (Watson, Whyte, Schartau, & Jamieson, 2006).…”

The Relationships between Body Mass Index, Nutrition Knowledge and the Health Promotion Behavior of Nursing Students

“…선행연구에서 영양지식이 높을수록 건강 에 좋은 음식을 섭취하고자 하는 경향이 높았고 [13] 현재까지 국외 간호대학생의 건강증진행위와 관련된 선행연구 로는 흡연 [17], 영양상태 [18], 간호교육 [19]에 관해 이루어지고 있고, 국내 간호대학생의 건강증진행위와 관련된 선행연구로는 지각된 건강상태 [6], 체질량지수 [20], 건강통제위 [21] …”