Abstract

The purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the exercise prescriptive practices and individual exercise habits of adult, family, and gerontological nurse practitioners who utilize the Internet. Pender's Health Promotion Model provided the theoretical framework for the study. The target population was adult, family, and gerontological nurse practitioners who use the Internet. The first 34 respondents were the nonrandom convenience sample. A researcher-designed home page was placed on-line with the consent form and Modified Auburn Exercise Questionnaire attached. Participants selected responses to the items and submitted the consent form and questionnaire to the e-mail address of the researcher. The study was guided by the following research questions : What are the most common medical reasons for which nurse practitioners prescribe exercise? What are the exercise prescriptive practices and personal exercise habits of nurse practitioner? Analysis of data utilizing descriptive statistics found that weight management prompted the exercise prescription most often and that 47.1% of nurse practitioners developed individualized prescriptions for exercise. Ninety-four percent of the respondents engaged in a regular exercise program. The findings of the study indicate that this sample of nurse practitioners has not achieved Healthy People 2000's goals of increasing to 65% the number of health care providers who routinely develop individualized exercise prescriptions for their clients. Recommendations for further research include conduction of a similar study utilizing pediatric nurse practitioners to determine the health promotion practices among children and adolescents and replication of the study without Internet usage for comparison.

Degree

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Graduate Nursing

Degree Date

8-1-1998

Publication Number

27924608

First Advisor

Dr. Patricia E. Smyth

Second Advisor

Dr. Linda Cox

Third Advisor

Donna Gullette

Document Type

Thesis

Included in

Nursing Commons

COinS