Community nurses' attitudes to health promotion in one regional health authority

Abstract

A postal survey of all community nurses in North East Thames Regional Health Authority was carried out in April 1989 to explore their attitudes to health promotion and disease prevention. They supported the notion that GPs, community nurses and govern ment should make health promotion a higher pri ority, but identified practical constraints such as lack of time to carry it out effectively. The nurses were divided in their view about opportunistic health pro motion with 50 per cent of district nurses and 43 per cent of health visitors expressing the view that patients get annoyed if asked about behaviour such as smoking when it is not related to their presenting problem. This finding has implications for the debate concerning the use of opportunistic health pro motion methods versus specific clinics.