Relationships among health promotion behaviors, patient engagement, and the nurse practitioner-patient partnership.

Background: Individuals adopting health promotion behaviors benefit from improved health and reduced risk of chronic diseases. Patient engagement and a strong provider-patient partnership may play a role in health promotion.

Purpose: This study examined the relationships between patient engagement, the nurse practitioner-patient partnership and health promotion behaviors among adults in a primary care setting.

Methodology: A descriptive correlational study using convenience sampling to recruit 85 participants from a nurse practitioner primary care practice. Participants completed questionnaires measuring health promotion behaviors (Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II), the quality of the nurse practitioner-patient partnership (Patient Reactions Assessment), and a person's capacity to engage in their health care (Person Engagement Index).

Results: Moderate to strong correlations were found among the main study variables. Multiple regression analysis found a person's capacity to engage in health care significantly predicted health promotion behaviors (R2 = 0.362, p < .001) and explained 36.2% of the variance in health promotion behaviors.

Conclusions: Patient engagement is a significant predictor of health promotion behaviors. The interactive care model can serve as a framework for nurse practitioners to build partnerships and facilitate patient engagement. Nurse practitioners can serve as a coach, navigator, collaborator, and trusted health care partner with their patients.

Implications: Nurse practitioners in primary care may need to restructure the health care encounter to allow for adequate time to communicate, listen, educate, and enlist patients in the shared decision-making process. Nurse practitioners can provide the support patients need to engage in their health care as they accept greater responsibility for their health.