Self-Care on Stress This Case Term Paper

Third stated by Scott is: "People who neglect their own needs and forget to nurture themselves are at danger of deeper levels of unhappiness, low self-esteem and feelings of resentment." (Scott, 2008) the risk of taking care of others and forgetting about ones' own needs is the risk of burnout "which makes it more difficult to care for others or themselves." (Scott, 2008) the work of Elaine Martin (2005) entitled: "Dorothea E. Orem's Theory" that the conceptual framework of self-care was presented by Dorothea Orem in 1959." Martin states that the theory of self-care "is the practice activities that individuals initiate and perform on their own behalf in maintaining life, health and well-being." (2008) the explicit assumptions of Orem's theory include:

1) Nursing is a deliberate, purposeful helping service performed by nurses for the sake others over a period of time, 2) Persons (human agency) are capable and willing to perform self-care for self or for dependent members of the family, 3) Self-care is part of life that is necessary for health, human development, and well-being, 4) Education and culture influence individuals, 5) Self-care is learned through human interaction and communication, 6) Self-care includes deliberate and systematic actions performed to meet known needs for care, 7) Human agency is exercised in discovering, developing and transmitting to others ways and means to identify needs for and make inputs to self and others. (Martin, 2005)

The implicit assumptions of Orem's theory are stated by Martin to be as follows:

1) People should be self-reliant and responsible for their own care needs as well as for others in the family who are not able to care for themselves, 2) People are individuals with entities that are distinct from others and from their environment. (Scott, 2008)

According to Orem's theory, the concept of health "is defined as 'a state of physical, mental and social well-being and not only the absence of disease or infirmity'. (Scott, 2005) Self-care, according to the principles contained in Orem's theory, is something that the nurse practitioner must teach the patient, as many patients do not place the proper value upon their own self-care and do not understand that they are indeed responsible for self-care and do no one a favor by failing to care for their own physical, emotional and mental and spiritual health.

V. IDENTIFICATION of ACTUAL INTERVENTIONS and SOCIAL SUPPORT

Social support in the self-care initiative comes not only from the nurse practitioner but from the individual's family, spouse, friends and community as the individual proactively seeks the methods of self-care that work best in their own life.

VI. EVALUATION of INTERVENTIONS and OUTCOME GOALS

Evaluation of interventions and outcomes goals will be conducted at each visit the patient makes to the physician. This will be accomplished through checking the patient's weight and blood pressure and through continuing to counsel the patient regarding their own self-care practices.

SUMMARY and CONCLUSION

In following the model as set out by Dorethea Orem, the nurse practitioner is able to assist the patient in self-care practices that will improve their health in the areas of physical, mental and emotional, as well as the spiritual health of the individual.

Bibliography

Self-Help: Self-Care (2008) the University of Texas at Dallas. Online available at http://www.utdallas.edu/counseling/self-help/self-care.html

Determining Your Ideal Weight (2008) Rush University Medical Center

http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1108048103230.html

Blood Pressure Chart (2008)

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/medicine/blood-pressure.htm

Scott, Elizabeth (2008) the Importance of Self-Care for Health and Stress Management. Disease and Conditions. Online available at http://stress.about.com/od/lowstresslifestyle/a/self-care.htm

Martin, Elaine (2005) Dorothea E. Orem's Theory. prism.troy.edu/~martin/DorotheaE.Orem'sTheory.pdf

Self-Care on Stress