Maximizing health and wellness for quality of life
Beyond the Classroom Experience: Co-authored Heart Healthy Diets Presentation, Spring 2017
Quality of life is the perception of wellness or well-being, health, and level of happiness in life by an individual or society. In research, quality of life can be quantified through the use of surveys and data collection. Currently, there are set standards or guidelines by national public health organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on what they consider health-related quality of life. To an individual quality of life can simply relate to the level of satisfaction in one’s own life. A common misconception in society is the belief that quality of life is the same as self-actualization or the act of achieving one’s maximum potential. How is quality of life different from Self-Actualization? Self- actualization is when an individual reaches his or her maximum potential by means of self-awareness and self-exploration (McLeod, 2007). Self-actualization allows us to act and influence others in a positive manner. Quality of life is an individual’s opinion on his/her or others’ life and is an evaluation of their overall level of contentment with life. However, if quality of life is perceived as optimal then the opportunity for self-actualization arises (Oleson, 1990). Health-related quality of life is different in that it takes physical, mental, and emotional health into consideration. Health-related quality of life is a tool that can be calculated in public health and that measures life expectancy, cause of death, as well as health impact.
A course that helped influence my beliefs on quality of life while at USC Lancaster was my Clinical Nutrition course (NURS 220). One of the course objectives in clinical nutrition was to educate individuals, families, and communities on health and nutrition. The clinical nutrition course emphasized the implementation of nursing measures to help restore, promote, and maintain optimal nutritional health through the use of nutritional health promotion and education. According to the clinical nutrition course methodology, knowledge is based on facts and education is specialized according to an individual’s specific disease state.
A within the classroom experience as part of my Clinical Nutrition course included a Wiki Presentation on Gout Patient Teaching and Education. I have attached a copy of the Wiki Presentation as part of this within the classroom experience. For the purpose of this project I provided information on treatment goals including treatment for acute episodes of Gout, methods of prevention for future gout attacks, as wells as information on managing uric acid levels in the blood through dietary recommendations and administration of medications that help lower uric acid levels. In addition to patient education, I also provided treatment guidelines set by the American College of Rheumatology that are supported by evidence-based practice. The purpose of this presentation was to improve quality of life of an individual living with gout disease by providing information on disease management.
As part of my clinical nutrition course goals during Spring 2017 semester, I was able to complete a beyond the classroom experience, which included a clinical nutrition, project that I co-authored on Heart-healthy diets. I have attached a copy of the handouts that were provided for community members during this beyond the classroom experience. My peer and I presented information on choosing heart healthy foods and taught members of the Lancaster community how to read Nutrition Labels in efforts to help improve health literacy in a rural region of the southeastern United States through an access grant program. In order to reduce mortality rates due to carbon monoxide poisoning, I participated in a Student Nurses Association (SNA) community outreach program that focused on educating families in the city of Lancaster about carbon monoxide poisoning and safety during Fall 2016 semester. These beyond the classroom experiences during my time at USC Lancaster allowed me to promote health and wellness in our school campus as well as in the community.
Research for Health Promotion
A beyond the classroom learning experience that I attended while at USCL as part of Research Club was a lecture presentation given by Professor Lauren Thomas on Maximizing Health and Wellness through the theoretical application of a Multidimensional Systems Model. This Public Health Systems Model focuses on providing resources and eliminating barriers that prevent an individual from having optimal quality of life. There are a multitude of factors such as not having access to health insurance, lack of available resources, and lack of technology for health information access as well as language barriers that inhibit individuals from maximizing their health and wellness. According to Professor Thomas, “it important to consider that knowledge is not enough to change an individual’s behavior.” Barriers need to be addressed in a community through the implementation of education practices, preventive measures, as well as management and solutions of public health issues.
An example of research for health promotion in a beyond the classroom learning experience that I attended as part of Research Club, which was a lecture presentation by Professor Leigh Pate. As part of Professor Pate’s doctoral thesis, the purpose of this research is to develop a student health services at a rural two-year college campus in order to improve healthcare access to students. The goals of this project include promoting health through the availability of reproductive health education, preventative health screenings, and immunizations.
In conclusion, research as a form of health promotion can be used to maximize health, wellness, and quality of life of an individual. In order to increase health awareness and access to health information I believe that presenting my research and what I have learned from my research findings as a form of health promotion and education will not only improve health literacy but also help motivate individuals to change their personal lifestyle habits. In addition to providing resources, I believe that the dissemination of knowledge and availability of information can help improve health literacy in this country.
References McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology, 1.
Oleson, M. (1990). Subjectively perceived quality of life. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 22(3), 187-190.