Nola Pender

• Born: August 16, 1941

Nurse educator and theorist

Place of birth: Lansing, Michigan

Education: Michigan State University; Northwestern University

Significance: Nola Pender is a nurse educator and theorist who developed the Health Promotion Model in 1982. The model focuses on preventive health, rather than the treatment of illnesses.

Background

Nola Pender was born on August 16, 1941, in Lansing, Michigan. In 1962, she earned her registered nursing (RN) degree from the School of Nursing at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois. She then studied at Michigan State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing in 1964 and a master’s degree in human growth and development in 1965. In 1969, she earned two PhDs, in psychology and education, from Northwestern University.

Nursing Career

Pender began her nursing career while completing her bachelor’s degree. From 1962 to 1964 she worked as a head nurse in the medical-surgical unit at Ingham Medical Hospital in Lansing, Michigan. She then began working as an instructor at Mercy School of Nursing, in Lansing.

After a year at the Mercy School of Nursing, she moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and worked as an instructor in the College of Nursing at the University of North Dakota from 1965 to 1967. She moved to Illinois in the late 1960s, and began a twenty-one-year career with Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, Illinois. Starting as an assistant professor in the School of Nursing in 1969, she was promoted to associate professor after one year and then to professor in 1976. In 1984, she became the director of the Health Promotion Research Program at NIU’s Social Science Research Institute.

Pender simultaneously worked in several other positions. From 1979 to 1990 she was an adjunct professor at Rush University’s College of Nursing in Chicago. She also was a coordinator for the DeKalb County Health Department’s Relaxation and Biofeedback Program.

Early in her career at NIU, Pender began developing a nursing theory. Concerned that patients typically first received treatment after they had acquired an illness, she believed preventative measures could reduce illnesses and promote healthier lifestyles. While this belief was not unique, prevalent preventive health theories of the time, such as the Health Belief Model, used negative motivations to frighten individuals into adopting more healthy behaviors. Pender’s theory, the Health Promotion Model (HPM), uses a positive approach to encourage a healthy lifestyle and behaviors that promote health. In 1975 she published an article, “A Conceptual Model for Preventive Health Behavior” in Nursing Outlook. Pender’s theory became an integral part of many nursing students’ educations. It was first published in her textbook Health Promotion in Nursing Practice (1982). Pender has revised the model twice since its original publication.

The Health Promotion Model is based on five key concepts and the interrelationships between them: the person, the environment, nursing, health, and illness. Its goal is to encourage health professionals, especially nurses, to work with individuals to create the best conditions to foster optimal health.

In 1990, Pender joined the School of Nursing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. From 1990 to 1994 she was a professor and director of the Center for Nursing Research. She then became the associate dean of academic affairs and research. From 1998 to 2001, she was professor and associate dean of research. She was named a professor emerita in 2001.

Pender has conducted extensive research throughout her career. She has been the principal investigator, director, or chair for research studies on a diverse array of health topics, including relaxation and biofeedback, corporate fitness programs, and exercise. Throughout her career, Pender has shown a particular interest in adolescents and counseling them to adopt physically active lifestyles. In 2005, the Midwest Research Society awarded Pender a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her contributions to nursing research.

Pender has also maintained a prolific speaking career, presenting at professional meetings such as conferences, workshops, and universities both nationally and internationally. She has also served as a consultant to health departments, schools of nursing, and federal institutes such as the National Institute of Aging, and has taught seminars and consulted with universities in Asia and the Caribbean.

An active member of the nursing and research communities, Pender has been involved with many national associations and organizations. She has been a founding member, president, and trustee of the Midwest Nursing Research Society as well as the president of the American Academy of Nursing.

In 2004, Pender became a distinguished professor at the School of Nursing at Loyola University, Chicago. In 2012, she was designated a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing. In the 2020s, she remained professor emerita at the University of Michigan School of Nursing.

Impact

Pender’s theory has been widely accepted and is one of several nursing theories that is taught to nurses during their training and during continuing education. Her textbook Health Promotion in Nursing Practice has been in print for over thirty years, with the seventh edition (with coauthors Carolyn Murdaugh and Mary Ann Parsons) published in 2015.

Personal Life

Pender lives in Plainfield, Illinois. She is married to Albert Pender. They have two children, Andrea and Brent, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Bibliography

Ngwazini, Christine. "Implementation of Nola Pender's 'Clinical Assessment for Health Promotion Plan' to Increase Patient Self-Efficacy, Weight Loss and Health Promoting Behaviors Such as Improving Nutrition and Increased Physical Activity in Obese Women in a Weight Loss Clinic." University of San Diego, 28 May 2022, doi.org/10.22371/07.2022.043. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.

“Nola J. Pender.” School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Regents of the University of Michigan, nursing.umich.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/nola-j-pender. Accessed 2 Oct. 2024.

“Nola Pender.” WhyIWantToBeANurse.org, www.whyiwanttobeanurse.org/nursing-theorists/nola-pender.php. Accessed 29 Aug. 2016.

Pender, Nola J. Health Promotion Model (HPM): Frequent Questions and Answers. U of Michigan, Deep Blue, 2011.

Peterson, Sandra J., and Timothy S. Bredow, editors. Middle Range Theories: Application to Nursing Research. 4th ed., Wolters, 2017.

Petiprin, Alice. “Nola Pender—Nursing Theorist.” Nursing Theory, 2016, www.nursing-theory.org/nursing-theorists/Nola-Pender.php. Accessed 29 Aug. 2016.

Wilson, Jane C. "Chapter 21: Nola J. Pender: Health Promotion Model." In Nursing Theorists and Their Work. 10th ed. Martha Raile Alligood, ed. Elsevier, 2021, pp. 320-33.