Health promotion is fundamental to nurse practitioner practice. To be effective in health promotion, the nurse practitioner must have a clear understanding of the nature of behavioral change, the individual issues each client brings to a particular behavior, and have expertise in health promotion. The nurse practitioner must possess specific skills to facilitate the client’s movement along the continuum of health behavior change. Health promotion that enhances prenatal care has been described and established by evidence-based research and professional practice guidelines. The purpose of this evidence-based research project was to develop a current nurse practitioner knowledgebase regarding the role of the nurse practitioner in health promotion during pregnancy. Literature indicated that health promotion during pregnancy is crucial, yet the current level of health care knowledge regarding the role of the nurse practitioner is limited. Further research into the role of the nurse practitioner is critically needed to better serve nurse practitioners and their clients. Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model (HPM) was used to guide this project. The HPM has served as a framework for research aimed at predicting overall healthpromoting lifestyles and specific behaviors and using wellness orientation to clarify health-promoting behaviors
