Introduction to the Problem
The key role of a transitional care nurse is to ensure that patients, especially those who are chronically ill, successfully move to different healthcare settings. Taking into account that the ability to facilitate such transitions without negative health outcomes is inherent in self-care promotion, the latter is to be studied thoroughly. The peculiarities of the promotion of self-management practices are widely discussed by modern researchers.
For instance, Abreu, Barroso, de Fátima Segadães, and Teixeira (2015) state that patient education methods should be chosen based on the degree of dependence and patients’ personal characteristics. Various interventions for the promotion of self-care are also discussed by Pelicand, Fournier, Le Rhun, and Aujoulat (2015) who indicate their importance for both psychosocial life and general well-being. Therefore, the positive role of self-care promotion is widely recognized by qualified researchers.
Problem Definition
The problem that will be studied in the planned research refers to the ways to individualize teaching for self-care promotion. It is accepted that patient education plays a central role in the promotion of self-management skills (Flanders, 2018). However, the ways to make it more effective for different categories of patients are not reviewed and presented systematically. The research paper will study the problem above, linking the findings to transitional care nurses’ practice.
Significance of the Problem
As it has been stated, the effective promotion of self-care behaviors is extremely important for the quality of healthcare. Increasing patients’ health literacy and encouraging them to be responsible when it comes to health, it is possible to prevent many complications that result from the lack of self-care practices. Speaking about patient education in self-care promotion, one should pay enough attention to the impact of individual factors on the effectiveness of education interventions. The chosen problem is extremely significant since the ability to recognize patients’ specific educational needs and use such skills for self-care promotion is a distinctive trait of a professional nurse.
Purpose of the Research
The planned research project is expected to add to the existing knowledge related to the effectiveness of patient education by reviewing the findings of previous researchers that are rather disparate. It is especially important that the study will focus on the role of different patient characteristics in effective self-care promotion and the ways to individualize interventions to achieve better results.
Apart from that, it can be hypothesized that the personality traits of patients impact the way that they acquire new information and, therefore, need to be considered in self-care promotion practices. With that in mind, the project being planned is also aimed at studying the promotion of self-management behaviors in the context of psychological differences. Therefore, the research will touch upon a range of important aspects of self-care education.
Research Questions
The project is expected to answer the following research questions:
- What factors impact the effectiveness of self-care promotion interventions in healthcare settings?
- What patient characteristics are used to adapt education interventions to clients’ needs?
- What practices are used for the individualization of patient education interventions?
- Is there a relationship between individualized patient education and successful self-management?
Relevant Master’s Essentials
Nursing students’ research projects should play an important role in the development of their professional skills, and this is why studying practice-oriented topics can be extremely helpful. The chosen research topic, the peculiarities of self-care promotion, refers to some Master’s essentials formulated by AACN. In particular, the seventh and the ninth essentials that refer to the improvement of patient outcomes and professional nursing practice are related to the topic discussed above (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2017). Effective self-care promotion supports the principles of patient-centered care, which makes the topic aligned with the mentioned essentials.
References
Abreu, W., Barroso, C., de Fátima Segadães, M., & Teixeira, S. (2015). Promotion of self-care in clinical practice: Implications for clinical supervision in nursing. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 5(1), 6-9.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2017). The essentials of Master’s education in nursing. Web.
Flanders, S. A. (2018). Effective patient education: Evidence and common sense. Medsurg Nursing, 27(1), 55-58.
Pelicand, J., Fournier, C., Le Rhun, A., & Aujoulat, I. (2015). Self-care support in paediatric patients with type 1 diabetes: Bridging the gap between patient education and health promotion? A review. Health Expectations, 18(3), 303-311.