1. Introduction
The health system of Australia generally is considered one of quality, yet the country has also reported increased public health concerns like obesity mental disorders and continuous diseases (Lippman et al., 2024). These conditions have persisted despite quality health resources, qualified and skilled professionals, and welfare social services-conditions that show the quality of health does not solely determine health outcomes. This paradox underlines that barriers to health are often far from an issue of personal choices or motivation but are regularly seated within systemic determinants like socioeconomic and environmental ones (Kilpatrick et al., 2024). Given that, the challenges of obesity, poor mental health, and cigarette smoking want a holistic approach, taking into consideration the wider social, economic, and environmental factors affecting the health of an individual. This paper now critically applies the social model of health by drawing on the wider factors influencing the individual's possibilities of adopting healthy lifestyle choices. The two main chosen topics of a healthy lifestyle on which a review of barriers to optimal health, facilitators to optimal health, and proposed key strategies nurses can use to empower patients, are weight management and smoking cessation. By exploring these areas in depth, the discussion pinpoints the relevance of holistic, community-oriented approaches to public health in developing sustainable health outcomes.
2. Social Model of Health and Its Application in Primary Care
The social model of health focuses on the broader social, economic, and environmental causes of diseases rather than individual behaviours or biological risk factors in isolation (Brennan et al., 2024). However, this takes into consideration factors such as education, income, and neighbourhood resources that influence health behaviours and outcomes, recognizing that individuals' health is influenced by the condition in which they live, work, and play. Rather than being concerned only with the treatment of symptoms, the social model identifies the root causes of health disparities, knowing that, on most occasions, the best health usually needs intervention beyond the health care system.
The social model enables the provider to envisage and address the patient's health in the wider environmental context even in a primary care setting (Grega et al., 2024). In managing conditions related to lifestyle, like obesity or smoking, for instance, the primary care provider may consider the lack of healthy food choices or safe places to walk that a patient may find. It allows a health professional to focus their advice and interventions on the patient's actual life. This model goes further and encourages providers to support community-level changes, such as policies that can provide affordable, nutritious foods or programs that promote active lifestyles.
Since a social approach is important in securing health improvement that is more lasting, it addresses not only the individual but also the environment that moulds their health. Many chronic conditions, including obesity and smoking, have had a strong linkage to social and environmental factors; thus, an integrated model in primary care can promote more effective health outcomes that are sustainable (Lippman et al., 2024). By considering these determinants, healthcare providers encourage holistic and preventive care to ultimately help the patient overcome the structural barriers to health.
3. Barriers to Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle
Systemic and individual problems are among the barriers to healthy lifestyle maintenance. These pose great challenges in adopting and maintaining health-promoting behaviour. The most critical systemic barriers, reflective of socioeconomic status and/or healthcare accessibility, drive at the very core of lifestyle choices and opportunities (Te Loo et al., 2024). Individuals usually living within low-income communities tend to live in so-called "food deserts," where access to affordable and nutritious food is rare, dramatically minimizing options concerning better nutrition. Moreover, such communities might not have access to several public facilities or spaces that are usually supportive of regular physical activities, for example, gyms or parks (Kilpatrick et al., 2024). Needless to say, without the availability of such resources, efforts toward the improvement of healthy lifestyles could be substantially hampered, particularly in underprivileged neighbourhoods.
At the individual level, cultural influences, psychological barriers, and knowledge of health are associated with individual decisions concerning lifestyle. For example, adolescents may be victimized by peer pressure to eat healthily or have a low level of nutrition education, perhaps placing them at risk of unhealthy dietary behaviours (Louey et al., 2024). Moreover, family history and other mental disorders may also contribute to one's vulnerability to unhealthy weight gain or increased susceptibility to tobacco, which makes self-generated behaviour change even more challenging to achieve (Briazu et al., 2024).
While personal responsibility is, to a large extent, suggested as the main determinant of health behaviour, systemic barriers have a reason to be critical and may limit even the most motivated ones. Indeed, studies have shown that highly motivated individuals are often unable to maintain healthy lives facing huge environmental limitations and thus individual actions might be too few and far between (Heris et al., 2024). This duality of influence, both from the systemic and individual levels, suggests that an intervention aimed at both aspects will be required to induce sustainable changes in health behaviour.
4. Facilitators of Good Health
Social and environmental facilitators are critical in promoting healthy behaviours and in making active a person's capability to appreciate a healthy lifestyle. The environmental support in the forms of providing safe recreational spaces, availability of fresh produce in local markets, and community resources is a big contributor to the health of individuals and populations. Public health policies that would provide subsidized gym memberships or community health programs can start to build an environment that is supportive of healthy lifestyle living. For example, programs that provide free or low-cost exercise classes promote not only participation but also help people overcome financial constraints that would potentially hinder them from engaging in health-promoting activities (Egan et al., 2024).
Moreover, education and health literacy are the required facilitators that afford these persons the capability to make informed decisions about their health. Health literacy is defined as the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and ideas that are essential for effective self-management. Health advisors at a primary care level play an important role in guiding patients through the vastness of health information. They equip individuals with the knowledge and self-confidence to make sustainable lifestyle choices, hence creating a proactive approach toward health management (Ingle et al., 2024).
However, one can present an opposing argument that such emphasis on education knowledge might still not be enough to entail overcoming deeply inculcated structural barriers to health. Even when people know what is healthy for them, they may still find serious social or economic obstacles to enacting this knowledge. The residents of food deserts may, for instance, intellectually understand what a healthy diet should be, but do not have the opportunity to purchase these foods at affordable prices. Again, this fact emphasizes the necessity of structural interventions to augment the educational programs. The reality underlines the simple fact that there is a need to promote positive health at many levels. Individual knowledge and system barriers are, thus, two substantive issues that are to be considered (Babich et al., 2024).
5. Key Strategies for Nurses to Empower Patients
Among their many other important roles, nurses play a vital role in enabling patients to live healthier lifestyles-especially in the areas of weight management and smoking cessation. Basic to most strategies is patient teaching and counseling wherein the nurse explains what needs to be done to enable the patient to understand and become motivated concerning lifestyle changes. Such an approach is crucial in improving a patient's ability and potential to adopt healthier behaviours. For instance, studies have shown that well-informed patients are more likely to adopt better health behaviours (Alhamwi, 2024).
Another useful approach is motivational interviewing, which allows patients to voice their personal goals and weigh the benefits of the change. This type of patient-centred method generates ownership and lays the groundwork for growing self-efficacy, which is crucial in sustaining long-term change. The research proved that motivational interviewing significantly enhances the motivation of patients to engage in healthier behaviours; hence, motivational interviewing is also a useful tool for nurses (Grech et al., 2024).
Moreover, behavioural support should also be given. The nurse may also recommend patients to peer support groups and digital health applications to support the continuation of their positive lifestyle behaviour. Support groups provide a network of people who can understand and live through the challenges of change as well as ongoing encouragement and accountability (Doody et al., 2024).
Furthermore, community and social support integration is of the essence in making sustainable lifestyle behavioural changes possible. With the referral of patients to community-based programs, nurses solidify the social model of health; health can thus be pointed out as a behaviour supported by the community. Similarly, such cooperation will foster motivation among patients and provide a supportive setting for behavioural change to take place (Babich et al., 2024).
Overall, these empowerment strategies are instrumental to improved health outcomes. By addressing individual motivation with community resources, the nurse can help the patient establish healthy habits in the long run that reduce the burden on the healthcare system.
6. Case Studies and Evidence-Based Approaches
Recent literature points toward nursing interventions to affect lifestyle modifications in achieving weight management and smoking cessation. Lifestyle modification processes, for example, have been conducted by nurses with high compliance from patients. Grega et al. (2024) indeed provide good evidence through various case studies regarding how pre-planned nurse interventions, such as personalized education with behavioural assistance, ensure positive health changes. These programs provide motivational interviewing skills to be included in the nurse's practice, allowing them to discuss the health goals of the patients and build a nonconfrontational relationship in behaviour change.
Therefore, lifestyle medicine also finds practical implementations in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities through various pilot programs. Ingle et al. (2024) describe initiatives that involve nutrition and smoking cessation in high-need areas, demonstrating specifically how health strategies tailored to meet the particular challenges faced by the populations can be notably effective. The findings support the social model of health since they indicate a community-specific approach whereby, if the health providers adapt interventions that are in keeping with the social determinants of health, the outcomes stand to improve significantly.
However, there are complications in maintaining behavioural changes. In some instances, even when the treatment has been successful, relapse occurs or resistance to change may be expressed by the patient. Kilpatrick et al. (2024) point out that in some situations, continuous care and focus on the individual have contributed to such disappointing results. Such cases reveal how follow-up and personalized engagement become necessary if the patients are to be kept motivated on their journey toward a healthy lifestyle. Such challenges must be addressed in formulating nursing strategies for sustainable health improvement.
7. Conclusion
In conclusion, utilizing the social model of health within primary care services would be of immense help in combating complex lifestyle-related ill health, including healthy weight management and smoking cessation. Such an approach reinforces the notion that personal health choices are made not only within private lifestyles but also within systemic barriers, like socioeconomic disadvantage and limited food access capable of providing healthy nutrition, set by general social determinants. Effective health strategies will need broaching upon these barriers, leveraging facilitators such as supportive communities, and educational resources, and enabling healthcare policies that ensure sustainable health improvement.
The nurses are valuable in such an approach in terms of being observant of the multidimensionality of determinants and applying them to the patients. Practical steps that nurses can take to enable patients, include motivational interviewing techniques to enhance patient commitment, linking patients with community resources that will provide continued support, and promotion of policies enhancing health equity. These strategies are compatible with the social model because they offer broader, more patient-centred methods than symptom management to support sustainable long-term lifestyle changes. The adoption of such methods empowers the individual while at the same time contributing towards better health for all in general.