Effective health promotion presupposes a broad and internalized conception of health promotion by health professionals. White defines a conception as a system of explanation. Defining a health promotion conception requires more than classifying something as health promotion or describing all knowledge associated with the concept health promotion. Defining a conception requires such deep appreciation of its meaning that it becomes possible to apply the knowledge appropriately in new situations. The conception, then, represents a functional unit of thought which includes both propositional (knowing what) and procedural (knowing how to) aspects. In this article, we use the term construction to describe students' continuously developing conception of health promotion in the context of learning in nursing education.

Students' conceptions and their change during their education have been studied within various. Earlier research that has explored nursing students' understanding of health promotion, in the context of Project 2000 education has yielded information on how a health promotion concept and its relationship to health education and nursing are defined by student nurses. The results of the latest studies are contradictory. Nursing students' descriptions of health promotion have emphasized traditional, victimizing approaches that concentrate on lifestyle and behavioral changes. Students have been confused about the meaning of health promotion and health education, and about their relationship to. On the other hand, results indicate that Project 2000 educated nurses work with broad perceptions of health promotion within the hospital setting Still, very little research has been conducted to find out how students' constructions of health promotion change during their education and what the procedural aspect of these constructions means in clinical practice.

With kind regards

Sophia

Managing Editor

Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education