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Iran is a developing country with low levels of economic development and globalization and is ruled by a theocratic government. To address the lack of national research on well-being in Iran, this retrospective observational study aims to examine life satisfaction and its main determinants among Iranian adults. Using World Gallup Poll data collected between 2006 and 2017, we examined life satisfaction as a cognitive aspect of subjective well-being in relation to various factors. Our results show that income is the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, followed by standard of living, gender, social support, age, negative affect, and education. In developing countries such as Iran, which face significant economic, political, and social challenges, individuals prioritize the satisfaction of basic needs by emphasizing factors such as the socioeconomic status. In contrast, developed countries with established welfare systems may emphasize other values such as social connections and healthy lifestyle behaviors as key factors in life satisfaction. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the determinants of life satisfaction in Iran and provides insights for future research and policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Individuals with multiple physical and, or, mental health issues and, or, drug‐related problems are known as complex patients. These patients are often recipients of poor‐quality care. Compassionate nursing care is valuable to promote better care experiences among this patient population. Implementation strategies should be designed to enhance compassionate nursing care delivery. The study aimed to gain understanding of barriers to compassionate care delivery to propose implementation to promote compassionate nursing care of complex patients. Design: An exploratory sequential mixed methods study was conducted. Methods: Phase 1 was the qualitative component during which 23 individuals with multimorbidities were interviewed for exploring their perceptions of barriers to compassionate nursing care. The barriers were integrated with implementation science frameworks using the building technique during phase 2 to develop a Q‐sort survey of implementation strategies for phase 3. Nurses, nurse managers, health care administrators, policymakers, and compassionate care experts responded to the survey by ranking the 21 implementation strategies, out of which five met the Q‐factor analysis criteria. Results: Participant‐perceived barriers to nurse compassion could be categorized under knowledge, intentions, skills, social influences, behavioral regulation, reinforcement, emotion, and environmental context and resources. The five highest‐ranked strategies included facilitation, consultation with stress experts, involvement of patients and families, modeling compassion through shadowing, and utilizing implementation teams. Conclusions: Enablement and modeling were the integration functions represented by the highest‐ranked implementation strategies. Enabling nurses to provide compassionate care through emotional support and mental health counseling, and, modeling compassion and compassionate care through shadowing were recommended and rated as highly relevant by the majority of stakeholders. Clinical Relevance: Enhancing nurses compassionate behaviors toward complex patients requires facilitating them in enacting compassion in practice through modeling and support from organizations and nurse managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiritual care as an aspect of holistic or person‐centered care has been well documented. Studies on spirituality and spiritual care in nursing have taken place in various countries and contexts. Studies about spiritual care from the nurse perspective in the primary healthcare setting of Australian General Practice are not evident. Using an interpretive description study design, data about views on spirituality, spiritual care experiences, and descriptions about any spiritual care provided were collected from eight practice nurses. Four themes were drawn from the findings: the personal importance of spirituality and spiritual care to nurses and patients, spiritual care as an aspect of person‐centered care, spiritual care practices, and barriers and enablers to addressing spiritual needs. Participants identified that practice nurses require improved education about spirituality to adequately address spiritual needs as expressed by patients, as well as the tools to be able to provide spiritual care. They also identified that documentation templates used in general practice should include prompts to address spiritual and/or religious needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Title. Health promotion and health education practice: nurses’ perceptions Aim. This paper is a report of a study to explore nurses’ perceptions of health promotion and health education practice in a Chinese provincial hospital. Background. Health promotion and health education practices are based on universal constructs. Therefore, such practices should share common principles. To date, most nursing-related studies have been conducted in Europe or in North America. Method. A Husserlian phenomenological approach was adopted. Interviews were conducted in 2006 with a sample of eight nursing students and eight senior nurses. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed from Mandarin to English. Data analysis adhered to the framework developed by Giorgi. Results. Reported health education and health promotion-related practices showed results similar to those reported in Europe and North America. Hospital-based nurses were often aware of what health promotion is, but did not have the scope or opportunity to implement it in practice. Instead, they were likely to conduct more limited forms of health education. Actual understanding of health promotion and health education constructs was high with most participants, underpinned by active clinical-based educational support. Some participants were able to conduct broader health promotion activities on a voluntary basis in their own communities. Conclusion. Health education and health promotion are universal health-related constructs. Thus, there is an expectation that all nurses will implement these in a similar fashion. Where possible, hospital-based nurses should strive to improve their health education practices and further embrace wider perspectives of health promotion practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many agencies over the last few decades have called for the explicit inclusion and application of health promotion in all aspects of nursing practice. This article reviews the body of empirical (research-based) and theoretical (conceptual) literature addressing health promotion in nursing clinical practice, to uncover its nature, intention, and impact. Approach: The aim of this review was to identify from the nursing literature what is reported on in relation to health promotion activity, both theoretical and clinical in the practice setting. An extensive review identified that literature pertaining to these issues clustered around the categories of: theorising and conceptualising the meaning and purpose of health promotion in nursing practice, the development and testing of tools and models for practice, and the exploration of attitudes, behaviours, roles and functions of nurses and health professionals in practice. Findings: Against more recent trends in health promotion, the literature shows that broader and wide-ranging health promotion reform has yet to have universal impact, whereas conventional health education activities remain the mainstay for the majority of “health promotion” activities in nursing practice. Where nurses purport to be conducting “health promotion” they are often conducting behavioural, lifestyle, and risk-orientated health education. The findings of this review therefore support the notion that much of nursing-related health practice is firmly located in reactive ill health and disease risk-specific preventive locations, instead of incorporating and instilling broader societal, economic, ecological, and political dimensions of health promotion. Recommendations for wider reform, developed from personal opinion and supported by the literature, are presented. Conclusions: It is argued that nursing bodies, as well as individual nurses themselves, should seek current health promotion locations in nursing practice, and find effective ways to implement health promotion strategies and, subsequently, equip practitioners with the necessary resources and skills to engage with other health promotion agencies. Future research should be aimed at implementing and evaluating broad health promotion processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

whitehead d., keast j., montgomery v. & hayman s. (2004) Journal of Advanced Nursing 47(1), 15–24 A preventative health education programme for osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a preventable disease that is usually not managed until the disease becomes evident, although it places huge economic and social burdens on societies worldwide. It is predicted that this burden will grow if left unchecked. Despite this, evidence suggests that osteoporosis prevention activity is given a low priority, and services often only provide biomedically-based programmes, in which resources are predominantly allocated to screening and pharmacological treatments. Referral to these services mostly occurs when a client is already known to have osteoporosis or to be at risk, rather than as an early preventative intervention. This paper reports an action research project with one hospital osteoporosis service. The aim of the project was to assess the current service, identify areas where change was needed, and evaluate the implementation of such changes. Participatory action research was used, with group meetings and reflective journals to collect data for analysis. The process involved assessment of a preventative osteoporosis service, and determination of clinical issues and problems, and it aided decisions on an appropriate course of organizational reform and evaluated any change processes as they occurred. It also encouraged participants to reflect on and evaluate their experiences of using a participatory framework. A change programme was implemented that focused on preventative health education activity in a range of clinical settings. Over the two and a half years of the project, the osteoporosis service expanded its programme to include a wide range of preventative activities, running alongside other organizational reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A recognized ‘paradigm war’ exists between the two distinct approaches of health education and health promotion practice. This tension is both unhealthy and unhelpful and is known to have a profound effect on nursing activity. • Leading health promotionalists have begun to acknowledge the futility of the stated paradigm tension, realizing that health education and health promotion interventions are not that dissimilar in their origins and intentions. Progressive health education and health promotion programmes acknowledge the interrelatedness of both approaches and seek to incorporate favourable aspects of the two. • The aim of this article is to present arguments and stances that help to diffuse/avoid the stated paradigm conflict, as a basis for health education and health promotion reform in nursing. It also seeks to clarify the nature of both health education and health promotion practice so as to avoid contextual confusion. In doing so, this article draws significantly from the author's previous work. • This article concludes that the constructive review of any intended health education/health promotion programme lies in the consideration of each approach according to its own relative merits, what is required of the programme, and the nature of the setting in which the intervention takes place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health education, behavioural change and social psychology: nursing’s contribution to health promotion? Aims. To critically review the complex processes that underpin the modification of a client’s health-related behaviour. This paper also seeks to contextualize the operational differences between health-educating and health-promoting activities – as a means of rationalizing current practice. Background. In ‘health promotional’ encounters, there is a plethora of evidence that suggests that nurses work predominantly within a ‘traditional’ preventative framework of practice. The prevalence of a culturally inherent biomedical framework, governing most nursing practice, tends to reduce health-related client interventions to little more than one-off, reductionist information-giving exercises. The expectation on clients to respond to and subsequently modify their health behaviour, when presented with such information, is unrealistic in most cases. Nurses are often unaware of the extremely complex human phenomena associated with modifying health-related behaviours and the resultant change processes. In nursing-related health encounters, the planned or unplanned intervention and the subsequent outcomes are mostly viewed within a too simplistic and superficial context. Design. A selective review of the relevant literature. Conclusion. Where many nurses believe themselves to be health promotionalists, the likelihood is that they are instead more likely to be traditional health educationalists. Not that this is the main problem, in itself – but if nursing is to progress on this issue, it must first become more effective in delivering its current health education initiatives. Armed with further knowledge and understanding of their practices, health educators are far more likely to achieve a degree of success in their behavioural-change encounters as well as approach the intervention with a far more realistic expectation of outcome. Without this further understanding, it is argued that the integration of health educational initiatives into nursing practice will generally do little or nothing to change the health status of clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Test of the Health Promotion Model of Commitment to a Plan for Exercise Among Korean Adults With Chronic Disease," in the April 2005 issue.

The author comments on the study of Irene Schofield, Susan Kerr and Debbie Tolson concerning smoking-related health beliefs of older people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. According to him, it acknowledges the challenges and complexities of socio-cognitive orientated behavioural-change strategies and thus trap of many nursing-related smoking cessation studies. He added that the researcher should be commended on their correct reference to and framing of their health-related approach.

The article comments on the assessment of health promotion models by aging workers. It highlights several issues related to the establishment of workplace-based health schemes that provide organizations with motivated workforces resulting to the increase of efficiency, higher morale, reduced industrial relationship disputes and improved organizational performance among medical institutions.

Commentary on Fok MSM and Tsang WYW's paper on "(2005) Development of an instrument measuring Chinese adolescent beliefs and attitudes towards substance abuse," published in the Journal of Clinical Nursing 14 is presented. The paper discusses about the measures to find out the perspectives of adolescents towards drug abuse. The author opines that usage of the term "abuse" is not right, since the paper does not cover the criminal practices of drugs. To be on safer side young must be educated on the usage of drugs and its effects.

The author comments on the works of Dunnion ME & Kelly B. He argues for overall departmental and organizational reforms to measure unlined services between hospital and community-based services. Depicting discharge planning as an important and fractional component of the process, the author highlights action research for the health service reforms.

The article comments on published articles on health promotion competencies which relate to nursing. The articles allowed the real context of health promotion to surface through. It becomes a problem when nursing in established health promotion in today's context, continues to disregard later perspectives in favor of traditional practices. The different levels of health education practice refer to less limiting health education techniques which address individual empowerment, community presence and political awareness.

Focuses on patients' experiences of hope and suffering during the first year following acute spinal cord injury. Improvement in the prognosis and rehabilitation for spinal cord injury patients; Lack of acknowledgment and subsequent assessment for existential health states in clinical practice; Investigation on the existential dimension of vulnerable client groups' health states.

Comments on the article "Child in hospital: family experiences and expectations of how nurses can promote family health," by H. Hopia, P.S. Tomlinson, E. Paavilainen and P. Astedt-Kurki which was previously published in vol.14, issue 2005 in the "Journal of Clinical Nursing" publication. Disappointment over the family-related health promotion study; Focus of the investigation on the perception of the family as they related their illness experience against their received nursing contribution during hospital admission; Failure of the study to apply the concept to a claimed health promotion context; Claim on the misplacement of the study’s reference to various domains of family health promotion in their type of investigation.

Presents a letter to the editor in response to the article "Predictors of Health Behaviours in College Students," by D. Von Ah, S. Ebert, A. Ngamvitroj, N. Park and D.-H. Kang in a 2004 issue of the "Journal of Advanced Nursing."

In this article the author presents his views on the positive individual feedback from health professionals, that he received on the publication of a number of theoretical perspectives and models that he developed for health promotion. The author remarks that this feedback serves as part of his personal motivation to continue developing and refining these theoretical perspectives. Many of the theoretical perspectives and models that the author has developed, like others, have arisen from personal constructs and a wide-ranging clinical and academic experience.

The article presents a response to a commentary about the role and function of nurses in health promoting hospitals (HPS). The author of this article asserts that nurses should not be blamed for any failure in the delivery of HPS initiatives. He argues that the commentary contains little flawed and occasionally contradictory.

Presents comments on the article about a practice development project to develop the role of nurse practitioners in an acute hospital trust, previously published in the "Journal of Clinical Nursing." Effectiveness of action research in identifying a range of beneficial practical outcomes from the study; Indication on the need for nurses to develop themselves as health policy activists to determine their own collective agendas and roles; Demonstration of the change processes that accompanied the research project.