Digital Media-Based Interventions to Promote Healthy Lifestyles and Psychological Wellbeing of Nurses in Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ijp.2213Keywords:
Mental Health, Psychological Well-Being, Digital Media; Healthy LifestyleAbstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find out the effectiveness of applying digital media tools as an intervention to enhance the availability of information and resources related to mental health care to nurses and promote a healthy lifestyle. A growing number of health care workers suffer from mental health issues and poor psychological well-being. Many workers report cases of anxiety, burnout, and depression because of poor working conditions and unfavorable environments. Protecting health and well-being of care workers through integration of interventions aimed at increasing knowledge on mental health is one of the best strategies that could yield good outcomes for care givers. Nurses spend a large proportion of their lives in hospitals, hence, a need to create a healthy and safe working environment. Investing in a culture of managing and preventing mental health issues among the nursing staff by integrating modern approaches aimed at supporting education and training on mental health and psychological wellbeing remains a key agenda for the improvement of wellbeing of nurses. Emerging digital technologies such as social media, mobile-based and web-based applications have created new ways that individuals use to interact with one another, and could be very useful in creating awareness and enhancing knowledge on mental health and wellbeing of nurses. Majority of nurses have access to smartphones, which makes it easy to access mental health care through various mobile applications.
Methodology: The study targeted nurses in Kenyan hospitals, with specific focus on public hospitals in Embu County. A quantitative research was conducted with a sample size of 100 nurses from level-4 and level-5 hospitals. 65 responses were collected.
Findings: The outcome showed that majority of nurse have active social media channels and have been using them to learn more about mental health. Also, it was found out that using social media has a major role to play in increasing awareness on mental health among nurses, and it ensures nurses embrace a healthy lifestyle.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Findings from the study are of great significance towards developing interventions and policy approaches for promoting healthy lifestyle and improving psychological wellbeing of nurses. Also, the outcome would be of help in developing policy frameworks for managing and preventing mental health among health workers.
Downloads
References
Andersen, M. F., Svendsen, P. A., Nielsen, K., "¦ & Madsen, I. E. H. (2022). Influence at work
is a key factor for mental health - but what do contemporary employees in knowledge and relational work mean by "influence at work"? International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 17(1), 2054513. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2022.2054513
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory. United Kingdom: Prentice-Hall.
CDC. (2023, June). Healthcare workers and work stress. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/healthcare/workstress.html
Chatterjee, A., Prinz, A., Gerdes, M., & Martinez, S. (2021). Digital Interventions on Healthy Lifestyle Management: Systematic Review. Journal of medical Internet research, 23(11), e26931. https://doi.org/10.2196/26931
Ghahramani, A., de Courten, M., & Prokofieva, M. (2022). The potential of social media in health promotion beyond creating awareness: An integrative review. BMC Public Health, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14885-0
Goswami, M. (2015). Descriptive Research. Germany: Lap Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH KG.
International Council of Nurses. (202, April 21). Bosting healthcare workers psychosocial wellbeing through Zumba, Kenya. https://www.icn.ch/news/boosting-healthcare-workers-psychosocial-wellbeing-through-zumba-kenya
Jacinto Convit World Organization. (2023). Social Science Series #5: Mental health in developed vs developing countries. https://www.jacintoconvit.org/social-science-series-5-mental-health-in-developed-vs-developing-countries/
Jones, C. L., Jensen, J. D., Scherr, C. L., Brown, N. R., Christy, K., & Weaver, J. (2015). The
Health Belief Model as an explanatory framework in communication research: exploring parallel, serial, and moderated mediation. Health communication, 30(6), 566-576. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2013.873363
Karoline, K. (2023). Digital interventions to improve mental health and lifestyle behaviors for primary care patients. Thesis. http://hdl.handle.net/10616/48731
Latha, K., Meena, K. S., Pravitha, M. R., Dasgupta, M., & Chaturvedi, S. K. (2020). Effective use of social media platforms for promotion of mental health awareness. Journal of education and health promotion, 9, 124. https://doi.org/10.4103/jehp.jehp_90_20
Muinga, N., Magare, S., Monda, J., English, M., Fraser, H., Powell, J., & Paton, C. (2020). Digital health Systems in Kenyan Public Hospitals: a mixed-methods survey. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-019-1005-7.
McKellar, K. & Sillence, E. (2020). Teenagers, sexual health information and digital age. Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/C2018-0-01310-9
Naslund, J. A., Bondre, A., Torous, J., & Aschbrenner, K. A. (2020). Social Media and Mental Health: Benefits, Risks, and Opportunities for Research and Practice. Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science, 5(3), 245-257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-020-00134-x.
O'Connor, S. (2017). Using social media to engage nurses in health policy development. Journal of Nursing Management, 25(8), 632-639. https://doi.org/10.1111/jonm.12501
Thompson, T. R. (2007). Prevention practice: A physical therapist's guide to health, fitness, and wellness. United Kingdom: SLACK.
Tomlin, J., Dalgleish-Warburton, B., & Lamph, G. (2020). Psychosocial Support for Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 1960. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01960
Zhenjing, G., Chupradit, S., Ku, K. Y., Nassani, A. A., & Haffar, M. (2022). Impact of employees' workplace environment on employees' performance: a multi-mediation model. Frontiers in public health, 10, 890400. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.890400
W.H.O. (2022, September). Mental health at work. https://www.who.int/news-room/factsheets/detail/mental-health-at-work
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Margaret Gatavi Njeru
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
