|
Abstract Effects of Health Promotion on Exercise of Self-Care Agency in Independent Older Adults Rebecca Johnson Blue 1989 Nurses have an important role to play in the health of our aging population. The effects of health promotion sessions on exercise of self-care agency in independent older adults was investigated in this study. Dorothea Orem’s model of self-care nursing served as the theoretical framework. The nonprobability sample consisted of fourteen independent older adults living in an apartment complex for independent older adults in a Midwestern city of approximately 100,000 people, who participated in at least four of six weekly health promotion group sessions facilitated by the nurse researcher. The weekly topics were nutrition, fitness and exercise, medications, home safety, stress management, and health maintenance. Participants were pretested and posttested of their level of exercise of self-care agency using the 43 question Exercise of Self-care Agency Scale. Results of the data analysis indicated that there was no statistically significant relationship between participation in health promotion sessions and level of exercise of self-care agency in independent older adults. However, positive responses were obtained from the participants on the weekly evaluation forms. The majority stated: 1) their needs of self-care were met; 2) they learned a lot, 3) they were better able to care for themselves, and 4) they enjoyed being a part of the group. Further study with a large random sample and a comparison group is recommended. Subjects that have less motivation and knowledge at pretest of their self-care needs may provide different results.
|
