Nola Pender
Health Promotion Theory

Dr. Pender has been a nurse educator for over forty years.
Throughout her career.
She taught baccalaureate masters, and PhD students.
She also mentored a number of postdoctoral fellows.
In 1998, she received the Mae Edna Doyle Teacher of the
Year award from the University of Michigan School of
Nursing.
She currently serves as a Distinguished Professor at
Loyola University Chicago, School of Nursing.

She was the lady that started the Health
Promotion Model in Nursing Care .
She was born in August 16,1941 at
Lansing, Michigan

II. DATA:
Features:
This model is based on the idea that human beings are
rational, and will seek their advantage in health.
But the nature of this rationality is tightly bounded by
things like self-esteem, perceived advantages of healthy
behavior , psychological states and previous behavior.

As for the medical profession in
general, the main purpose here is not
merely to cure disease, but to promote
healthy lifestyles and choices that
affect the health of individuals.

Concepts:
1.Health Promotion
 is defined as behavior motivated by
the desire to increase well-being and
actualize human health potential. It is
an approach to wellness.

2. Health protection or illness
is described as behavior motivated desire to
actively avoid illness, detect it early, or maintain
functioning within the constraints of illness.

ASSUMPTIONS OF THE HEALTH
PROMOTION MODEL
1. Individuals in all their biopsychosocial complexity
interact with the environment, progressively transforming
the environment and being transformed over time.
2. Health professionals constitute a part of the
interpersonal environment, which exerts influence on
persons throughout their life span.
3. Self-initiated reconfiguration of person-environment
interactive patterns is essential to behaviour change

 Personal factors
Personal factors categories as biological, psychological and socio-cultural. These
factors are predictive of a given behavior and shaped by the nature of the target
behavior
1. Personal biological factor
Includes variables such as age gender body mass index pubertal status, aerobic
capacity, strength , agility, or balance.
2. Personal psychological factors:
Include variables such as self-esteem, self motivation, personal competence
perceived health status and definition of health
3. Personal socio-cultural factors
Include such as race ethnicity, education and socio economic status.

 PERCEIVED BENEFITS OF ACTION
•Anticipated positive out comes that will occur from health
behaviour.
 PERCEIVED BARRIERS TO ACTION
•Anticipated, imagined or real blocks and personal costs of
understanding a given behaviour
 PERCEIVED SELF EFFICACY
Judgment of personal capability to organise and execute a
health-promoting behaviour.

 ACTIVITY RELATED AFFECT
Activity-related affect influences perceived self-efficacy, which means
the more positive the subjective feeling, the greater the feeling of
efficacy.
 INTERPERSONAL INFLUENCES
Interpersonal influences include: norms , social support and modelling (
learning through observing others).
 SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES
Personal perceptions and cognitions of any given situation or context
that can facilitate or preventive behaviour.

Behavioural Outcome
1. COMMITMENT TO PLAN OF ACTION
The concept of intention and identification of a planned strategy leads to implementation of
health behaviour.
2. IMMEDIATE COMPETING DEMANDS AND PREFERENCES
Competing demands and Competing preferences are alternative behaviour over which
individuals exert relatively high control, such as choice of ice cream or apple for a snack.
3. HEALTH PROMOTING BEHAVIOUR
End point or action outcome directed toward attaining positive health outcome such as optimal
well-being, personal fulfilment, and productive living.

Prior related behaviour :-
• History of sunburns
• Outdoor lifestyle
• Indoor tanning salon use
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS &
EXPERIENCE
BEHAVIOUR –SPECIFIC
COGNITIONS
BEHAVIORAL
OUTCOME
Perceived benefits :-
• Intercept skin cancers at early stages
• Increased autonomy in skin’s health
Perceived barriers :-
Lack of knowledge , Limited time , Limited
resources
Personal factors :-
• Fitzpatrick type I & II
• Family history of
melanoma , basal or
squamous cell
carcinoma
• Diagnosed with
melanoma
Perceived cell efficacy :-
Lack of ability to perform self skin exam
and recognize abdominal lesions .
Activity related affect :-
Excitement and apathy to
practice sun protection and
self screening
Interpersonal and situational
influences :-
• Family sun protection habits
• Societal pressure / peer pressure
• Lack of guidance from primary care
health professionals
Immediate
competing
demands
and
preference
s :-
More
pressing to
health
concerns
Commitment of
plan of action :-
• Use cotton
cloths
• Cover the
whole body
parts
• Avoid the
sunlight
during noon
time
Health
promoting
behaviour :-
• Regular
self skink
examinatio
n
• Practicing
sun safe
behaviours

Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
 The Health Promotion Model is simple to understand yet it is complex in structure.
 Nola Pender’s nursing theory gave much focus on health promotion and disease
prevention making it stand out from other nursing theories.
 It is highly applicable in the community health setting.
 It promotes the independent practice of the nursing profession being the primary
source of health promoting interventions and education.
Weaknesses
 The Health Promotion Model of Pender was not able to define the nursing meta
peradigm or the concepts that a nursing theory should have, man, nursing,
environment, and health.
 The conceptual framework contains multiple concepts which may
invite confusion to the reader.

Thank you!