Nursing and health promotion: conceptual concerns.

The importance of health promotion to nursing is now well established. However, different interpretations of health promotion exist. It is argued that many allegations of nursing's inadequacy in this field are misplaced and to a large extent result from the confused and variable ways in which the term health promotion is used. Concepts of health promotion in general are considered and compared with usage of the term in nursing literature. The contribution of nursing to health promotion and health education is discussed and some curricular issues are raised.